Being Played
by Let-The-Wookiee-Win
Summary: Nobody likes being played, certainly not Han Solo, nor his son Jacen either. Both face that prospect, while Leia hears a voice from the past. Rated M primarily for chapter 2 and still rubbish at summaries!
1. Chapter 1

_To recap: Han and Leia are attempting to adopt a boy, Jarik, who bears an uncanny resemblance to Han and who was conceived and born during the couple's year long estrangement. Their daughter, Jaina, is pregnant with her first and possibly last child whilst their son, Jacen, besotted with the only daughter of Leia's one-time suitor Prince Isolder, is on a mission to rescue her from an arranged marriage._

_My stories mostly follow on from one another so if you somehow missed the last (48 Hours – Moments Between Moments), we open with Han still recovering from the injuries he received following a 'speeder accident which also saw Jarik seriously injured and Leia fearing for her son's life if his rescue plan should be discovered._

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Observing his sister's worried pacing, Luke felt duty-bound to try and lighten her mood.

"Hey!" He called down the corridor, grinning at her. "You know, they say if they admit just one more of us they'll have to name a wing after us."

Her pacing stopped, but the worried frown never left her face increasing Luke's own concern.

"Hey." He said, softer, more apologetically as he drew to her side. "Han's okay isn't he? I mean, nothing's happened?"

"Oh no, Han's fine." Leia assured him. "He's just having his catheter removed."

"Ouch." Luke muttered beneath his breath.

"It's Jacen I'm worried about." She started wringing her hands again, Luke noticed. "I think he's gone and done something incredibly stupid!"

"Tell me." Luke spoke softly, his hand light and gentle on her arm.

She told him. How Jacen planned on rescuing Tenel Ka from her Wedding, from beneath the noses of her betrothed and her father, and in the belief that whispered promises to one another would be enough to prevent Isolder from ripping him limb from limb.

Luke had viewed the last bit with some scepticism.

"You don't know him the way I do." Leia rolled her eyes as much at herself as at the situation. "I have no proof, but I'm sure Isolder was behind the attack on Jagged Fel."

"Seriously?" Luke asked, frowning.

"I think it was a mistake. I think he hired someone to teach Jacen a lesson and that someone somehow mistook Jag for him." She explained.

Luke considered her words.

"What do you need me to do?" He asked, drawing up to his full height yet seeming taller still to Leia.

She looked lovingly at her brother. Despite his own personal difficulties, his first thought was of her. "You have time for a caf?"

She linked her arm through his and they made their way to the medical centre's tapcafe where Leia waited patiently for Luke to bring drinks to their table and smiled as he sat beside her waiting for her to continue.

"Don't get me wrong, Han has been a wonderful father to our children." Leia said, unnecessarily stirring her caf. "It's just sometimes...I wonder if it wouldn't have been easier for him if they hadn't been twins."

"Easier?" Luke probed.

"Force Sensitive children can be pretty demanding. You must recognise that trait from Ben." Leia explained. "And Han, well, he was never known for his patience. Jaina learned early on how to enchant her father. But Jacen...by comparison, at times he could just be too much for Han to handle."

"Han doesn't want you to do anything." Luke surmised.

"He says I coddle him. Thinks it's because I feel guilty that his cord was round his neck when he was born." Leia sighed.

"I never knew that." Luke noted.

"I don't. Feel guilty, that is." Leia insisted. "It's simply that Jaina was the dominant sibling and Han could just never see that."

"He always was a sucker for a strong woman." Luke said, wryly.

"Han acts like he's not scared. But he is." Leia said, and finally stopped stirring her caf. "Our time apart damaged our whole family and his relationship with Jacen is still in a state of fragility. He's scared that by interfering we risk Jacen resenting us and where that resentment might ultimately lead."

"Then don't." Luke suggested.

"And let Isolder's men do to Jacen what they did to Jag? Is that what you're suggesting?" Leia queried, horrified.

"I'm suggesting you let _me_ handle this." Luke said, covering Leia's hand.

She searched his eyes then covered her face with her free hand and tried to stifle her tears. "You have no idea how much that means to me."

"Hey. Come on." He said, trying to sound comforting. "That's not like the strong woman I've come to know and love as my sister."

"Han's not the only one who's scared." She confessed. "This boy we're trying to adopt, Jarik. Han claims he's the son of his cousin, Thracken Sal-Solo. But..."

"But you're not so sure?" Luke asked.

"We were barely in touch for the best part of a standard year. The same standard year that Jarik was conceived and born." She said.

"Could be a coincidence." Luke reasoned.

"Which I would be inclined to believe, except..." She sighed again. "Except there's something about him. Something I can't explain."

"You feel drawn to him." Luke suggested.

"Like a moth to a flame." She whispered.

Luke studied Leia, trying to establish a lock on the heart she kept to closely guarded.

"I'm not...I mean, it's not that I..." She paused to gather her thoughts. "I don't feel any sense of anger. I don't feel betrayed or deceived. All I crave is the truth."

"Have you asked Han?" Luke queried.

"He's adamant the boy's not his." Leia answered, blushing. "I should have no reason to doubt him...no, I _do_ have no reason to doubt him."

"And yet, you do." Luke concluded.

"The first twenty years of my life were a lie." She said.

"Something else has happened. Something you're not telling me, something that's influencing your thoughts and feelings." He said.

"I should get back. Han'll be wondering where I've been." Leia pushed to her feet.

"Tell me what it is. Tell me where this is coming from." Luke said, rising also.

"It's nothing. I'm just emotional. The accident. Han's injuries." She insisted.

"Leia wait!" Luke persisted. "Tell me how I can help."

"Just...just do something to stop Jacen before it's too late." She begged before hurrying away.

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Han's eyes fluttered when Leia re-entered his suite.

"They've given me something. Said I should sleep for a couple of hours." He yawned at her. "Like I haven't been doing that already!"

"Did they give you a bottle?" She queried.

"Yeah. Stung like Hell!" He grinned. "But I did it. Every last drop."

"Good for you." She smiled, smoothing his hair. "Couple of hours and they'll be back with a repulsor chair."

"I sure hope so..." His speech was slurring again. "I hate being stuck in here...I got one job..."

His breathing was deep but not quite snoring.  
Leia watched while he slept.

On Home One, in Han's head, he was waiting patiently or at least what passed for patiently in Han's case for the three wise men and the lady to decide his fate.  
Mon Mothma was eyeing him suspiciously. Nothing new there, Han decided.  
General Madine's feelings were obvious even without Han's semi-ability to lip read. The guy didn't like him. No worries there, Han didn't like Madine either.  
Admiral Ackbar was gesturing a lot, which was difficult to interpret but Han took it as a positive sign that he was bothering to gesture at all.  
General Carlist Rieekan was the one giving most consideration to Han's offer. He was also the one who commanded most of Han's respect.

With his patience wearing thin, Han stepped forward and cleared his throat.

"Look, guys, I don't mean to hurry you, but don't you have a major attack to go plan?" Han asked sarcastically.

Rieekan excused himself from the group and moved toward Han.

"As you have probably guessed, my colleagues have some concerns." Rieekan said, almost apologetically.

"Some serious concerns." Madine added.

"Oh yeah. Such as what?" Han asked.

"Why now?" Madine queried, not giving Rieekan a chance to speak.

"I'd have thought that was obvious." Han answered.

"Enlighten me." Madine stalked toward him.

_Fine. You wanna play it that way. _Han thought.

"I figure I owe you something." He stated.

"Oh?" Madine's eyebrow curved. "Isn't it usually the other way around? Isn't it usually _us_ who owes _you_ something?"

"Crix!" Rieekan admonished.

"Well, see, usually, Crix..." Han said, adding emphasis to Madine's given name. "That's because I'm the one getting my ship all banged up or my ass kicked, or both, obtaining equipment and the like for you. This time it was different."

"We merely need assurances." Rieekan said, in an effort to diffuse the situation.

"My word not enough?" Han growled into Rieekan's face.

"Gentlemen!" Mon Mothma's softly spoken voice cut through the tension.

She glided the short distance to Han's side, slipping her arm through his and guiding him a few steps from the contentious military leaders.

"They're good men." She told him. "Just not very trusting at times."

"Ma'am, good people risked their lives for me. For _me_!" He told her. "I just figure I owe it to them to return the favour."

"You don't think you've done that already, any number of times?" She queried.

"Maybe. But this time it's different." She looked at him askance and Han sighed. "This time it was personal."

Mon Mothma nodded her understanding.

"Madine is a Corellian. He doesn't like you." She stated.

"I noticed." He sneered.

"Rieekan is from Alderaan. Now he _does_ like you." She commented, musing with a smile. "Must be something about Alderaanians."

"Is there a point?" He groaned.

"My colleague, General Madine, worries you're only doing this in an effort to impress a certain Alderaanian Princess." She said. "Whilst my colleague, General Rieekan, worries that where you go, that same Alderaanian Princess is likely to follow."

"And what worries you?" He asked.

"I'm inclined more toward the latter than the former." She said with a smile. "What if Leia does want to go with you?"

"I couldn't stop her." Han replied.

Mon Mothma's light laugh surprised Han.

"Actually Captain, I think that's where you're wrong. If ever there was a man who _could_ stop her, it would be you." She said.

"Then I'll rephrase. I _wouldn't_ stop her." He said. "And not to try and impress anybody, but because to do so would be to undermine who and what she believes in. Who and what she is. And anyone who cares for her, who _really_ cares for her, wouldn't do that to her."

Mon Mothma considered the Corellian. There was a humility to go with the arrogance if one was of a mind to search for it.

"You need someone to lead this thing or not?" Han asked testily.

"One might see this as an extension of an already agreed and clearly successful arrangement." Mon Mothma concluded, turning back to her colleagues. "Captain Solo is offering his services in return for his recent rescue from incarceration on Tatooine. I recommend we accept his proposal."

Madine pulled a peeved expression and marched from the room. Ackbar welcomed Han with a backslap, whilst Rieekan greeted him with a wide grin and more familiar handshake. Mon Mothma extended her fingers which Han lifted to his forehead, bending forward, as he had seen Leia do on many previous occasions.

"Welcome to the Rebel Alliance, General Solo." She said, her tone gracious and at the same time lyrical.

In a heartbeat the battle was over and Han was suddenly facing Luke in the Ewok village. Leia was close by being hugged and congratulated by her cousin, Wedge Antilles.

"So..." Han said, shaking his head. "You and Leia...That was some kiss back on Hoth."

"Yeah..." Luke eyed Leia, talking excitedly with Wedge. "About that..."

"Of course, Wedge thinks she only did it to make me jealous. But, I know when I'm beat." Han went on.

"Han, let me explain..." Luke started.

"No kid, no need to explain a thing." Han threw an arm around his shoulders. "I mean, I'm a man of the world. I can see why you'd be attracted. Let's be honest, she's gorgeous."

"Look...Han..." Luke tried to interrupt.

"And she's some kisser, there's no doubt about that." Han continued, ignoring Luke.

"Han...will you just listen...!" Luke tried to interrupt again.

"No I mean it kid. You are one lucky Son of a Sith." Han chuckled.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Luke asked.

"Huh?" Han queried.

"Nothing." Luke dismissed the comment. "Look, about Leia and me. The thing is, there really is no Leia and me. There never really has been and there never will be."

"Yeah..." Han pretended to look contrite. "I kinda got the feeling the great kissing bit was one-sided. I mean she never said as much but she didn't exactly rush back for more."

"No, you see the thing is..." Luke frowned. "Hey! What do you mean, one-sided? There's nothing wrong with the way I kiss."

"Well...you see, there kinda is when it's your sister you're kissing." Han said quietly.

Luke's jaw dropped open and he looked to Leia then back at Han.

"She told me. Don't worry, you're secret's safe with me." Han winked.

"Han..." Luke struggled with his conscience before making his decision and smiling at Han. "It's nothing. Go. Be with Leia."

"Am I getting your blessing? You know, a Princess and a guy like me?" Han queried with a wry smile.

"Just...just promise you won't hurt her." Luke said.

"Never." Han promised with a broad grin.

The view changed and Han was standing at a window in the counsellor's office looking out onto tranquil gardens. He could see Leia reflected in the pane, along with their therapist both silently waiting for him to return to his seat. He'd already forgotten what caused him to stalk to the window. It had only been a couple of minutes but to Han it had felt like hours, standing in the quiet.

"Beautiful grounds." He commented, letting the window drape fall back into place and retaking his seat.

"I can alter the view if you prefer." The therapist offered.

Han dismissed the suggestion with a wave of his hand and glanced over at a bookcase filled with books.

"You actually read all of those?" Han asked, pointing at the books.

"They're just an illusion too." The therapist replied and Han felt Leia stir beside him. "You haven't answered my question."

"Which one was that?" He queried.

Leia fidgeted again.

_Now who needs lessons in patience! _Han thought.

"I asked you how you felt." The therapist prompted. "You described looking down at your wife after your non-consensual penetration and I asked you how you felt."

Han shrugged a shoulder.

"Guilt? Shame? Remorse?" The therapist suggested.

"Sure. Yeah. I guess." Han said.

"Which?" She asked, making notes on her pad.

"All of 'em, I guess." He replied.

"Which first?" She asked, looking straight at Han.

"Look. It was a while back, you know?" Han held his hands out, palms up in surrender. "I don't remember what I had for breakfast two days ago, now you're asking me to remember what I felt over a year ago?"

He sensed Leia bristle.  
The therapist returned to her pad and Han pushed to his feet again, pacing the room.

"Look, I knew what I'd done was wrong." He explained. "But I was drunk. I mean, I was really, really drunk. And I'm a guy. Guys don't think like that. I mean they think with their head, sure, just not the one on their shoulders. We don't analyse what we're doing. We do something she likes, we do it again. We do something she doesn't like, we try to remember and not do it next time. We don't even always get that right. It's just the way we are."

He sat again, hitched against the seat and tried to relax as a stilted silence enveloped him.

"Leia?" The therapist asked, after it became clear Han was done. "Can you describe how you felt?"

"Ashamed." Leia answered, almost too softly to be heard.

"I'm sorry?" The therapist queried.

"I felt ashamed." Leia spoke up, clearing her throat as Han watched her from the corner of his eye.

"Ashamed that you had been violated." The therapist said, it was a statement not a question.

"No." Leia shook her head, eyeing the floor. "Ashamed that my work to shape the New Republic was at the expense of those who meant the most to me. I should have been there for you Han, and I wasn't. I'm sorry."

Han hung his head, remembering all too well the deep sense of pain he'd felt over the loss of Chewbacca.

"It was _not_ your burden to carry!" He mumbled.

"No." Leia agreed, reaching out to grip his hand. "It was _ours_."

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Han heaved back a sob and opened his eyes to a still smiling Leia. His lip curved upwards.

"C'Mere!" He said to her.

She rose and drew toward him, their lips touching in a tender kiss.

"I love you." He told her, grinning.

"I love you too." She said, adding wryly. "I love you a whole lot more when you're not high on pain killers."

"You know what else I'd love?" He asked, pulling her with him as he rolled onto his back.

"I can make a guess and we are not doing it in the medical suite." She told him.

"I'd love a bottle." He said. "I'm desperate for another pee!"

Leia extracted herself from his embrace and fetched a bottle for him from the 'fresher.

"You, er, don't want to lend a hand do you, huh, hon?" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"No." She replied, deadpan.

"Oh. Okay." He took the bottle and shoved it beneath his bed sheet, releasing a soft growl as his urine flowed. "Man that stings!"

"You want me to call a medic?" Leia asked.

"No!" Han answered, hurriedly. "It'll pass. Besides, they'll want to keep me in longer and I want out as soon as possible."

"But if you need medical intervention..." She argued.

"I'll be fine." He insisted, pulling the bottle from beneath the covers. "Would you mind?"

She accepted the bottle, holding it at arms length and leaving it in the 'fresher for the droids to investigate at their leisure.  
When she returned to his side, Han had one arm tucked under his head and he was following her every move.

"If you're doing what I think you're doing with your other hand then I'll tell you what we tell Jorj, it'll drop off." She said.

"Just checking out the equipment." He sighed. "All seems to be intact."

"Well, that's a relief." She quipped.

"You're telling me!" He grinned. "How about another kiss?"

He puckered his lips and waggled them at her. Leia bent forward and revelled in another warm, tender kiss.

"You know, if you turned the shutters you could make sure I haven't been too scarred by my recent brush with death." He suggested.

"We are _not_ doing it in the medical suite!" She repeated.

"When was the last time you had me naked and completely at your mercy?" He teased.

"I thought you wanted to get out of here?" She asked.

"I want to make sure everything's in full working order first." He shrugged. "That way if it's not, they can fix it while I'm still in here."

Leia laughed heartily and sat on the bedside stool. "You sound perfectly fit and healthy to me."

"Haven't I been telling you that?" He pointed out. "Wouldn't hurt to make sure though."

"While we're waiting for you to get the all clear to go, how about you tell me about your dreams." She smiled, slipping a hand into the crook of his arm.


	2. Chapter 2

Arrangements had been made. Guests invited. The residence on Hapes was in a state of readiness.  
Tenel Ka, only child of Prince Isolder, surveyed the array of neatly wrapped gifts displayed for all to see as she made her way from another pointless etiquette lecture back to her rooms for what she knew would be the last time.

Entering her suite handmaidens scattered, hanging their heads in deference to their Princess. Tenel Ka abhorred the formality and exhaled deeply.

"You may go. My eunuch will attend me." She intoned.

The handmaidens remained, motionless, glancing nervously from one to another.

"Go!" Tenel Ka repeated, forcefully, and all but one exited.

Tenel Ka narrowed her eyes at the remaining female. "Mereth?"

"It is unseemly." Mereth said calmly, eyes averted.

"Unseemly?" Tenel Ka queried.

"For you to be here alone. With a man." Mereth replied.

"Mereth, he's a eunuch not a man." Tenel Ka corrected. "And even if he was a man, what business would it be of yours?"

Mereth straightened, drawing her eyes level with Tenel Ka's and whispered. "Your father would be displeased."

"My father has nothing to be displeased about." Tenel Ka said. "He's just a eunuch. But...he is a eunuch with a touch more tender and hands far softer than all of my handmaidens put together. Now go!"

Her voice had risen in pitch until even the level-headed Mereth felt intimidated.

"He will take it out on all of us if you are caught Your Highness." Mereth spoke as she backed toward the door. "And _you_ will never see the light of day again."

"Then we must be certain, must we not, that my father doesn't find out." Tenel Ka advised menacingly. "Because if he does, _Mereth_, I shall know where to lay the blame."

Mereth backed from the room and Tenel Ka released a deep breath as she secured the door, then turned to the cloaked and hooded figure waiting patiently for her.

"Mereth's no fool, she'll not betray us." She pronounced.

"Your eunuch!" Jacen exclaimed, turning back his hood.

"It got you past the guards didn't it? Or do you think the royal hairdresser wears a hooded cloak when he comes to trim my locks? It was the only way I could get you in here without arousing suspicion." Her hips swayed as she approached him. Her hand delved through his cloak's folds to press against his groin. "And we wouldn't want any premature arousals, now would we?"

Jacen's eyes rolled back in his head momentarily, as he fought the urge to grind himself into her where she stood.

"So, what's the plan?" He asked, inhaling deeply.

"I have to dine with my father and the soon-to-be-in-laws later." She sighed. "Until then, I'm all yours."

She ceased her caress of his nether regions and started to move through the suite toward the bedroom.

"You're going ahead with the dinner?" He queried, following her.

"If I call off dinner, there'll be questions." She sank onto the edge of the bed, crossed one leg over the other and swung it backward and forward. "Cute as it looks on you, how about you lose the cloak. It's too distracting."

He pulled the cloak off, tossed it onto the bed beside her and planted his hands on his hips.

"Are you playing me?" He demanded.

"Now why would I want to do that?" She smiled salaciously and stretched her leg out to run the tip of her toe up the inside of his thigh.

Jacen caught hold of her ankle and raised her foot to eye level.

Giggling, Tenel Ka fell back onto her elbows. "I command my eunuch to kiss my feet."

She gazed up at him from beneath dark lashes, the remaining leg following her first to mark a trail up his body until he gripped it's ankle too.

"I don't think so." He told her.

"You sure about that?" She goaded. "I promise to make it worth your while."

Jacen eyed a foot before running the tip of his tongue around it's arch. Tenel Ka flopped back, giggled and twitched her foot.

"Tickles!" She laughed.

"Want me to stop?" He asked, repeating the action with her other foot.

"Yes. Stop. I want you to stop." She giggled further.

"Beg." He told her.

"Excuse me!" She hitched herself back onto her elbows.

"You heard me. Beg me to stop." He held her gaze.

"I don't beg." She shook her head.

"Then I won't stop." He said.

"You do remember that I trained at the Jedi Academy, don't you?" She queried.

"Sure I do. I was there too, remember?" He countered.

She considered.

"All right. Please stop licking my foot." She intoned.

"Like you mean it!" He told her, his lips so close to her foot she could feel his breath on it.

With a manipulation of the Force, she was out of his grasp and standing before him before he'd even realised she'd moved.

"We really don't have time for games Jacen." She said, one arm curling around his neck while her free hand laid against his cheek. "I can't afford to miss this dinner."

"You make it sound like all I am to you is a 'fuck buddy'." He said, arms snaking around her waist, hands seeking and finding the ties that held her gown in place.

Tenel Ka's eyes held his, her mouth open and teasing at his lips.

"Actions speak louder than words 'fuck buddy'. So let's fuck." She pressed her mouth to his and in an instant they were naked and rolling on her bed, just as she had planned they would.

Under Tenel Ka's patient tutoring, Jacen had become an accomplished lover.  
He'd learned the things she liked and had been surprised to discover she adored being dominated. Wrists loosely bound, she lay face down on her bed waiting for him to complete his fingertip examination of all her erogenous nooks and crannies aware that their time together was running short.

Her soft, patient moans were intended to provide audible stimulation, a confirmation that his foreplay was having the desired effect. In truth, what Tenel Ka craved was a deep, dry penetration that scraped at her inner walls. It didn't occur to her that it might cause discomfort to her sexual partner.

"Don't be offended Jacen, but tick-tock!" She threw over her shoulder.

Jacen was unconvinced she was fully prepared, but began the ritual he'd found greatly to her liking.  
Parting her buttocks, he blew a gentle whisper along the crevice and watched the involuntary contraction it caused.  
Her groan was less restrained this time and without further hesitation she hoisted her backside into the air.  
With an inaudible sigh, Jacen pulled himself to his knees and eased the tip of his erection between her folds. His gentle rocking began a slow, almost painfully so, in and out motion until he was fully immersed within her. Then, gripping her hips, he took up the rapid ebb and flow he knew she demanded of him.  
All too soon, he could hear her gasping and feel her contractions around his member.

"Don't pull out!" She commanded and Jacen followed, continuing his thrusts until he felt his own climax threaten.

"I'm going to..." He started and felt her pull away, leaving him suddenly exposed to the cool bedroom air, a hand clutching himself before he stained her now rumpled sheets.

When his ardour had cooled sufficiently, he moved to lie against her naked back, his hands around her seeking her breasts, his mouth hot against her neck.

"I want to see your face." He moaned, rubbing himself against her rear.

"Not yet." She refused him.

The soreness his penetration caused was only just starting to fill her, Tenel Ka wanted to enjoy the pleasure she gained from the phantom feelings of him inside her to continue.  
One hand delved between her thighs to tease at her sensitive nub.

"You can't keep doing this to me!" He told her. "I want to make love to you, not the wall."

She allowed his exploration of her body because she was aware he needed the stimulation but Tenel Ka was not made so.  
Sex with Jacen Solo was tolerable because she knew how much she meant to him. But she would have derived every bit as much sexual pleasure from a complete stranger. Or a mechanical, had that been her only option.

She reached around to toy with his hair, slid her back to the bed and allowed him to slobber over her whilst his member twitched and danced, filling with excitement again.  
And then she let him enter her again. To make love to her, not to the wall, as he had described it.  
When he had brought her to climax a second time and after his explosion of semen filled her depths, Jacen had laid wrapped in her embrace snoring gently.

He wasn't an unattractive proposition, Tenel Ka considered, admiring his sleek lines and the now flaccid genital resting against his thigh. He simply wouldn't be accepted by her father or, by association, the Court for no better reason than the name Solo.  
Why that Organa bitch couldn't have chosen to wed her father and keep Solo as her pet was beyond Tenel Ka's comprehension.

Jacen stirred, rolled and flopped onto his back.

Tenel Ka decided now might the right time to lay out the future's ground rules. She pushed to a sitting position and let her fingers draw lazy circles through her lover's sparse chest hairs.

"Jacen, there are some things I think we need to talk about." She said.

"I think I'm too exhausted to talk." He groaned.

"Then I'll talk and you listen." She suggested and took a deep breath. "I've slept with Lang."

Jacen's sleepy eyes opened and he eased to one elbow. "Say again."

"I've slept with Lang." She repeated.

"Slept?" He queried. "As in..."

"As in carnally." She replied.

He rose slowly to a sitting position, his eyes searching her face.

"You're going to marry him. Aren't you?" He asked, afraid he already knew the answer.

Tenel Ka shuffled closer to him.

"It doesn't have to change a thing between us." She assured him, a hand reaching out to stroke his thigh tenderly.

He swept her hand aside, his face contorted with barely restrained fury.

"Not. Change. A. Thing!" He blurted, breathing heavily.

"Don't go all dramatic on me Jacen." She rolled her eyes and climbed from the bed.

"Dramatic!" He exploded, following her, grabbing her arm and swinging her back to face him.

"It doesn't have to be like this." She shrugged herself free from his grasp and pulled on a silky robe. "And before you say anything else, just think about it. My father is _never_ going to let us be together. He'd die first. And if we try to run away, he'll find a way of tracking us down. This way we can still see each other, just...not every day."

"So what, I get to smuggle myself in as your 'eunuch' every couple of months or so?" He demanded, snatching at his clothing and hurriedly dressing.

"Once I'm married my father will have no say over my movements." She explained. "I can travel wherever and whenever I want and meet with whomever for however long I wish."

"And I suppose _Lang_ will be okay with that will he?" Jacen sneered.

"As the eventual Queen Mother's consort, Lang will do as he is told." Tenel Ka answered.

"And I suppose the 'eventual Queen Mother's eunuch' does too, right?" Jacen snapped.

Tenel Ka planted a hand on a hip and tapped a foot against the floor. "He does when he's stopped behaving like a petulant child!"

Jacen let the anger drain from him.

"Look, I'm not doing this to hurt you." She said softly. "It's just how it has to be."

Jacen shrugged a single shoulder in grudging understanding.

"Lang's a decent enough man." She smiled. "He has a couple of not unpleasant qualities. Even if he isn't you."

The couple stood regarding one another until Tenel Ka stepped forward to slip her arms loosely around Jacen's waist.

"I do love you Solo. I always will." She breathed. "It's just, no matter how hard I study the equation, there's no other solution."

"You'd think, being a twin, I'd be used to sharing." He said. "I just never thought I'd be forced to share you."

"I promise you, we'll make this work." She squeezed his waist, her eyes roaming his face.

"I should probably go." He said, weakly. "You have a dinner to prepare for. And I..."

They were interrupted by a banging on the suite door.

"Mistress! Mistress!" Mereth called, her voice agitated and urgent.

"I really must teach her about timing!" Tenel Ka complained with a shake of her head.

"Mistress please!" Mereth begged as she banged again on the door.

Jacen slipped into his cloak, covering his head with the hood as Tenel Ka palmed the access to allow Mereth into her quarters.

"Oh Mistress, thank the stars!" Mereth gasped.

"Whatever it is, it had better be worth the interruption Mereth." Tenel Ka intoned.

"Your father..." Mereth stuttered, trying to get her breath. "He's...he must have somehow...he's rounded up all the eunuchs..." Mereth glanced nervously at Jacen. "He's had them executed."

"He what?" Jacen asked from beneath his hood.

"You must go. Now. Quickly!" Tenel Ka turned to Jacen. "Mereth will escort you. She knows the way." Then she turned back to her handmaiden. "His safety is in your hands."

"But Mistress..." Mereth started to protest.

"No time to debate this. Go. Go now!" Tenel Ka demanded.

With a terrified huff, Mereth grabbed Jacen's hand and hurriedly departed the suite.

Tenel Ka calmly removed her bedding and placed it in the recycling unit. Then she slipped from her robe and stepped into the sonic shower, breathing slowly as it's scrubbers and sanitisers cleansed any trace of Jacen Solo from her flesh.  
It was an unsatisfactory end to what should have been an immensely pleasurable afternoon. But Tenel Ka had learned that certain situations necessitated such an approach.

She was still luxuriating in the shower's effects when her father burst into her apartment and stalked from room to room until he located her in the 'fresher.  
Without wasting time turning the sonics to neutral he dragged his naked daughter from the shower stall and held her against a wall, his hand around her throat.

"Where is he?" Isolder demanded.

"Where's who father?" Tenel Ka asked, innocently. _Too_ innocently from Isolder's perspective.

"You know full well of whom I speak!" He spat. "He's been here, I know it!"

"Father, I don't know what you're talking about." She said. "After my prenuptial meeting I slept for an hour, then began my preparations for this evening's parent's dinner."

"He's _had_ you!" Isolder ground through his teeth into Tenel Ka's face. "I can smell his Corellian father's breath on your lie!"

Tenel Ka's eyes left her father's to look beyond his shoulder at the guards trying to hide their interest in her nubile naked body. Isolder tracked her glance, released her and ordered his guards to leave. They did so, without hesitation.

Isolder turned to glare at his daughter.

"You make me ashamed." He told her.

"I am to marry a man I barely know, and yet _I_ make _you_ ashamed?" She queried. "Perhaps, father, if you could get over your immature infatuation for Jacen Solo's mother you might find time to examine your motives for those feelings of shame."

Isolder furiously grasped Tenel Ka's hair and forced her to her knees.

"I will have you examined. So that my physicians can ensure your purity for your Wedding night!" He threatened.

"We both know it's too late for that." She answered. "Besides which, Lang would be more than a little surprised since we have already been together."

"You lie!" He cursed.

"We're lovers father. Ask him yourself if you don't believe me." She argued.

Isolder angrily flung her to the floor.

"Get dressed. This dinner is important." He said and stormed from the 'fresher, through the suite and back toward his own private quarters muttering to himself the whole way that the sooner this wedding was in the past the better it would be for all of them.


	3. Chapter 3

Meanwhile, in her husband's medical suite, Leia wore a wry smile as she exclaimed. "That was quite some dream!"

"They were things I'd forgotten about. Defining moments in our lives." He said.

"I hated our sessions with the therapist." She whispered.

"Really?" He queried, surprised.

"Well, you were never very comfortable discussing your feelings. I know how unbearably difficult they were for you." She smiled at him softly.

"Worth it though." He smiled back. "In the end."

Two droids wheeled into the suite, guiding a repulsor chair up to the bed.

"Well it's about time!" Han grumbled.

Han pulled on a hospital gown and, with the droid's assistance, was helped into the repulsor chair. Any discomfort dissipated when he reached the suite assigned to Jairk Solo. Gazing through the transparisteel window, Han was surprised by how small the boy in the bed looked to him. Admittance was barred to him, as it had been to Leia earlier, and Han was perfectly at home voicing his disapproval as loudly as he possibly could.  
The commotion aroused the interest of medical staff and other visitors until Han was eventually forcibly returned to his own medical suite by security staff.

"I wanna get outta here!" He demanded. "I wanna get outta here and an' I wanna see that Junia woman!"

"If you don't calm down, the only thing you'll get is sedated again." Leia reasoned.

"How can they deny us access when we're adopting him? Huh?" He asked angrily.

"We're not his parents." She soothed. "Not yet anyway."

"It's not right Leia!" He banged another cupboard door closed and glared up at her. "And where the Hell are my clothes?"

"Han, calm down!" She insisted.

After several more huffs and puffs and chewing of the inside of his cheek, Han Solo finally relaxed and looked up appealingly at his wife.

"We're gonna lose him. I can feel it." He stated.

"Let me help you back into bed." Leia said softly.

"I don't _want_ to get back into bed. I _want_ to go home." He told her.

"You can't go anywhere until you get the say-so." She reminded him, wrapping an arm around his back and securing a hand beneath his armpit. "So for now, it's the chair or the bed. Which would you prefer?"

With a few tuts thrown in for good measure, Han reluctantly accepted her help and climbed back into his bed. Leia smoothed down the bedsheets and perched herself on the covers beside him.

"At least you have a gown now. You have no idea how distracting that delicious chest of yours is." She took his hand and let it rest on her thigh, her fingers drawing circles over his knuckles.

"It is, kinda..." He agreed with a half-grin. "Yours can be pretty spectacular too, you know. All flushed with excitement and eager anticipation."

Leia blushed. Even after all these years he could still bring a flush to her cheeks without even really trying.

"I really _do_ wanna go home." He said. "An' not just so I can check out that chest of yours at my leisure. I just..."

"Hate being stuck in here. I know." She slid her hand into his. "You never were one for being confined to a bed."

"Well..." He mused. "In the right circumstances..."

"You have a one-track mind!" She rolled her eyes in mock annoyance.

"Two-track mind." He corrected. "I'm starving!"

"Hmm. Well. That's a good sign I suppose." She conceded. "I'll see what the food cart can rustle up for you."

"Or..." He suggested. "You could slip home, pick up some fresh clothes for me and call into the take-out opposite on your way back."

His grin was infectious even if his batting his eyelids at her wasn't.

"All right." She agreed eventually. "But no nerf. I'll get you something fresh and green and healthy."

"Wouldn't want it any other way." He agreed, too quickly to be convincing.

Leia kissed his cheek and hastened to the apartment to pack a bag of clothes and was back at Han's bedside, with a fresh, low calorie deli-roll in under a standard hour.  
Han, however, wasn't alone. He had been joined by Junia Karoesh. Not, Leia suspected, without invitation.

"Junia. How lovely to see you again." Leia's smile was one of the least genuine Han had ever seen.

"Mrs Solo." Junia extended her hand which Leia shook, after thrusting Han's deli-roll at him.

"Leia." Leia corrected sourly and glowered at Han. "You called her?"

"I _asked_ her to stop by. I didn't know she'd come right away." Han said defensively.

"I'm glad that you called." Junia said. "There's been a development. One which will directly affect your application for full adoption of Jarik Solo."

"If you're talking about the accident, that wasn't my fault." Han pointed out.

"No, I appreciate that." Junia's smile was almost as false as Leia's had been. "But, Jarik's injuries revealed a genetic anomaly not shared with any of your other children."

"No. Well, it wouldn't." Han said, stalling for time. "He inherited his genetic anomaly from his mother. Same dad, different mom. Makes all the difference."

"That was our first consideration." Junia explained. "Rosa's medical records, however, show no such anomaly."

Han swallowed, a cube of ice chilling his stomach.

"Coincidence?" He suggested.

"Han." Leia sighed, shaking her head slightly.

"No, think about it." Han argued. "Anomaly's got to start somewhere don't they? Maybe Jarik's started with Jarik!"

Leia just looked at him, her head hung to one side.

"More likely it was inherited from his natural father, Thracken Sal-Solo." Junia stated. "We checked. He carries the same gene."

Han's mouth opened. Closed. Opened again. His brow furrowed in concentration.

"Sec...second cousins. Maybe it skipped a generation." Han finally suggested.

"I'm sorry we wasted your time Junia." Leia apologised. "I can promise you, it was for the best of intentions. We only ever wanted the best for Jarik."

Junia nodded.

"What? What're you saying?" Han exclaimed.

"Han." Leia appealed, her eyes holding his.

Han sank back into his pillows, telling nobody in particular. "Thracken has no redeeming qualities. None whatsoever. You'd be doing the kid a favour if you just sent him to the spice mines of Kessel now!"

Junia looked from Han to Leia. "My office will be in touch. I'll recommend no further action, but I can't say for certain we can protect you from charges."

"Yeah, right!" Han snorted. "Never yet met a professional who didn't charge for their services."

"Captain, I was referring to legal charges." Junia explained. "There's a possibility you may be charged with the procurement of a minor."

"You think..." Han sat bolt upright, regretting it instantly when his pelvis screeched with pain.

"Captain, I assure you, I believe you when you say your motives were pure." Junia held her hands up as a shield. "However, the facts may speak differently to law enforcement."

Han sank back into his pillows again and closed his eyes while Junia made her exit, leaving Han and Leia to their thoughts.

"You couldn't have maybe argued the point a little harder?" He accused Leia when he could speak.

"Don't make this about me!" She snapped.

"I'm sorry for wasting your time Junia." He emulated her earlier words. "Why didn't you just let her cuff me there and then?"

"This isn't _my_ doing!" She barked back.

"No? It was _you_ who wanted the kid in the first place." He shook his finger at her angrily.

"Because I thought he was your son." She spat back.

"Oh, yeah, right. You were real quick to draw that conclusion." He snarled.

"You were gone a year Han. A whole year. What was I supposed to think?" She shouted.

"Well for one, that I was faithful to you." He shouted back. "Like I believed you were to me."

"What's that supposed to mean?" She demanded.

"I wasn't the only one who wasn't there for a year." He countered. "For a lot longer than a year in fact. You always had half an eye on the 'Republic', sometimes I think you loved _that_ more than you ever loved me!"

The words were out of his mouth before he had chance to listen to the voice in his head yelling at him to quit it. In the silence between them, all he could hear was Leia's breathing.

"I never..." She started quietly, any further discussion interrupted by the arrival of two medical droids and a human doctor.

They assessed Han's fitness to leave and, with an order for prescription meds and appointments for physical therapy, a standard hour later the couple were home in their apartment.

There were several recordings on their message service; Luke for Leia, telling her he would talk to her later; Jaina for both of them, telling them she was having a scan and would drop by with a copy for them later; Jacen, confirming he had made his last drop and was on his way home; Junia Karoesh, four times, asking for an urgent meeting; and Lando Calrissian, asking where Han Solo, that dirty dog, had gotten himself to and if he had the stamina did he want to meet for a game of sabaac with the boys.

Leia deleted all the messages once they had been heard.

When Luke called, she advised him that Jacen was on his way home. Her demeanour and the guarded nature of her words told him now was not the right time to go into any further detail and he accepted the situation with a gentle, loving smile.

When Lando called, Leia told him about the accident and he promised he'd call by soon with Corellian Ale, the one medicine known to cure all of Han's ills.

When Jaina called in with a hologram of their first grandchild, Han and Leia displayed the kind of delight that was expected of new grandparents. But Jaina, like her mother, was force-sensitive and knew a cover when she saw one. Even one as practised and as polished as the one they were showing her now. Their eagerness to know more, for her to stay longer, for every ounce of news no matter how trivial screamed of two people desperate not to be alone together.

When, at last, she could bear it no longer Jaina apologised for leaving but before doing so stood in their doorway with her hands on her hips and glared at them both.

"I don't know what's going on here." She said, looking between her parents. "But sort it out okay? I'm not letting my baby be a bouncing ball between you two."

Then she was gone and the door was secured.

Leia sat in the self-conforming chair opposite Han and said. "She's right. We do need to sort this out. If our time with that therapist taught us anything, it's that we need to be open with one another."

Han shrugged but remained silent.

"You knew what you were getting into when you married me." She said to another shrug of his shoulders. "I even delayed the wedding to ask you if you were _certain_ it was what you wanted."

"I remember." He said quickly. "I was the one with a thousand pairs of eyes on him waiting for the inevitable 'I'm sorry, there won't be a wedding today' speech."

"Han, stop eyeing the room and look at me!" She demanded.

With another furtive glance around, his eyes fell to rest on hers.

"Do you think I was unfaithful to you?" She asked, plaintively.

An image came to mind, unbidden. A youthful Leia, naked and flushed with sexual excitement, lay beneath the muscular body of her partner. His mouth was devouring her neck whilst a slender leg drew the length of his, an ankle catching beneath his buttock cheek urging him to cease making out and start making love. His movement was swift, fluid. A hand disappeared into her hair, another to guide himself into her and as he strained upwards, grinding deeply into her depths, his face was revealed as that of Isolder, the Prince of Hapes.

"No." He answered, shaking the picture from his mind. "I know how important your vows are to you."

"But you do feel that you took second place to my career." She said.

His eyes wandered again.

"I hate being under scrutiny." He commented, his gaze returning to Leia's and giving her his half-smile. "Yes, I knew what I was getting into when I married you. And no, I never regretted it. Not for one minute. Not until..."

He sighed and fell quiet again.

"Until what?" She probed. "Han we have to talk about this. If we don't, we'll end up back where we were."

"The time we were apart." He explained. "I spent a lot of time getting drunk. And the rest of the time getting very drunk. But you know that, Jacen was making regular reports back to you."

He saw her flinch and gave her a simple smile to show he meant no malice.

"On the rare occasions I was sober enough to make sense of anything." He continued. "I'd catch you on the Holonet. You and _him_. He'd be there by your side, his hand on you, looking like it was where it belonged. Looking like _he_ was where _he_ belonged."

"Isolder's tactile. Too tactile in public I'll grant you, but I promise there was nothing between us." She told him.

"It just...it reminded me of what we are." He noted her askance stare and elaborated. "A Princess. And a guy like me."

Leia seemed to float from her chair to Han's side, careful not to jolt him. Knowing he would be in more discomfort than he would ever admit to her or probably even to himself.

"My Scoundrel you mean?" She queried, with a wry smile.

"Scoundrel's the least of my less-endearing qualities. You should see some of the stuff they scrubbed from my file before they could burn your delicate Royal eyes!" He commented.

"What makes you think they didn't let me see?" She asked, with an arched eyebrow.

"You know what they say about me? They say that you only went with me because after Alderaan, you couldn't sink any lower!" He said, stony-faced.

"I think that's intended to be an insult to _me_." She pointed out. "And it's wholly inaccurate. I went with you, because I fell in love."

"With a no-hoper? With nothing to offer in return?" He questioned.

"Well, at the time, I kind of hoped you felt the same." She observed. "That you didn't wasn't a concern, I figured it was still worth a shot. That _you_ were still worth a shot. What was the worst that could happen? You reject me and I get my heart trampled on? The Empire did their best to do that when they destroyed my home world and I survived. No offence, flyboy, but you'd be a lot less of a let down that that."

"Thanks!" His tone was laced with irony.

"I also figured you must have at least liked me a little bit to keep sticking around." She said.

"Maybe it was Luke?" He suggested, the twinkle returning to his eyes. "He was a pretty cute kid back then. Before he got so fat and Jedi righteous."

She slapped him playfully and he feigned hurt.

"No. You were very definitely the Alpha Male. And you knew it." She sighed and let a hand graze the front of his shirt. "If anything, _I_ was the lucky one."

"Well..." His eyes rolled slowly, examining the ceiling. "That's true enough."

"We're drifting from the subject." She noted. "I never realised just how low your self esteem was. I'm sorry. I should have paid more attention to you."

"You were raised as a Princess. Regardless of your actual parentage, you _are_ a Princess." He ran a hand over his face. "And we're back to a Princess and a guy like me."

"I can't change where I came from any more than you can." She observed.

"And that, kids, is how to draw a perfect circle." He turned his head to look at her. "I meant what I said, you deserved better than me."

"And I meant what I said. I fell in love with _you_." She jabbed him with a finger for emphasis.

"So...we good?" He asked her.

"I don't know, are we?" She asked him.

He reached an arm out and patted his chest. Accepting his offer, she slipped gratefully and carefully into his embrace.

"I'm a guy Ley. A guy who had a pretty rough start in life. Maybe it's because of that, or maybe it's just not in my genetic make-up, either way I can't be all hearts and flowers. Yeah I knew what I was getting into when I married you. But you knew what you were getting into also." He kissed the top of her head and held her close. "So, are we good? I mean, I hope we're good. Because, for one, I'm too old to go looking for a replacement model now. Plus..."

"I'd quit it if I were you flyboy, the ground you're on looks mighty shaky!" She said, trying to keep the amusement from her voice.

"Seriously, there's another reason too." He continued. "I'm desperate for a bottle and the damn thing's way across the room in my medical bag.

Leia pushed away from him to study his face.

"You really need a bottle or is that just an excuse to get me to help you out of your pants?" She queried.

"I _do_ need to pee." He admitted with a leering grin. "But the thought of your soft regal hands sliding the pants off my butt _is_ kind of a turn on too."

"You're impossible!" She chided him, pushing to her feet to respond to their doorchime.

"I am, I really am." He agreed. "Remind me again, why did you marry me?"

"Because you asked me. And..." She said, mouthing "I love you."

Then she coded their door open.

"Where's the runt?" Thracken Sal-Solo demanded. Without waiting for the invitation, he pushed his way into the apartment. "There's my lousy, good for nothing cousin!" Thracken marched through the lounge threateningly toward Han.

"Thracken!" Han snarled. "What the Hell do you want?"

Leia's reactions were equally razor sharp, slapping the security buzzer and calling her lightsabre from it's resting place on her night-stand. It was a manoeuvre she shouldn't have been able to achieve, but never underestimate a woman protecting her children. Or her man.

"One more step and it'll be your last!" She warned.

Thracken stopped and eyed her, throwing Han's grin back in her face.

"I thought she was Royal, nor feral!" He quipped.

Leia took a step closer, lightsabre poised. "There won't be a second warning."

Thracken turned his attention to Han, still grinning. "Feral _and_ feisty. Must have been a match made by the Gods for you cousin."

"I wouldn't risk it Thracken." Han said and watched his cousin take a slow, deliberate step back.

"You always were the family let-down Han." He sighed as a security detail raced into the apartment and slapped stun-cuffs on him. "Shame that Mama of yours didn't drown you at birth!"

"Wait!" Han commanded the security team, then glaring at Thracken. "Did you just burst in here to call us names or was there an actual purpose to your visit?"

"All you had to do was keep your mouth shut. But no, the honourable Han Solo has to go and do the right thing!" Thracken growled, his eyes burning fire,

"I still have no idea what the Hell you're talking about!" Han barked back.

"The kid." Thracken spat. "Jarik Sal-Solo. The dopey kid that Rosa bitch thought she could trap me with. Like _I_ was gonna fall for that. I wasn't gonna get tied down to some crazy on a backwater planet even the Empire couldn't be bothered with." Thracken shook his head in disgust. "But you? You just had to go sticking your sensor dish where it wasn't wanted and now look, I'm stuck with the kid whether I want him or not."

"Not necessarily." Leia interjected, thinking and smiling at the security team. "Gentlemen, I think we can handle things from here.

"Ma'am?" One of the team asked.

Leia extinguished her lightsabre and smiled at them again, sweetly. "Perhaps my husband and his cousin got off on the wrong foot. I'm sure if we all sit down we can enjoy a civilised conversation together. Without the cuffs."

Security removed the stun-cuffs and, with further assurances from Leia that everything was under control, were ushered from the apartment.

Thracken made himself comfortable in the self-conforming chair Leia had earlier vacated while she re-took her place beside Han, resting her lightsabre on her lap.

"Rest assured." She said, tapping the weapon. "I _will_ still use this if I have to."

Thracken surveyed the apartment.

"Cosy little set up you got yourself here cousin." Thracken noted, settling back in his chair. "Real cosy."

"Cut the poodoo Thracken." Han snapped.

Leia rested her hand against his arm gently, a gesture not missed by Thracken.

"She got you a little under the thumb there cousin?" Thracken asked, snidely.

"You know if Leia doesn't use that thing..." Han indicated the lightsabre. "I still might."

Thracken held his hands up defensively, an amused smile on his lips.

"It seems to me, we all of us want the same thing here." Leia noted, looking to Thracken. "You want rid of the son you have no desire to raise, meanwhile we are endeavouring to adopt him."

"Yeah, what is it with you and kids Solo. Making up for a lost childhood?" Thracken asked smugly.

Han's trigger finger twitched and he resented the absence of a blaster in his hand.

"Since you clearly have no interest in the boy, why not let us take him off your hands?" Leia went on to suggest.

Thracken's eyes moved from Han to Leia and back again twice.

"Answer me this, just what is your interest in my son? He's got no money." He said directly to Han who visibly cringed at the accusation. "And he sure as Hell ain't no Jedi." He told Leia who showed no discernible reaction at all. "So what is it?"

"He's just a good kid, in need of a good home." Leia answered. "_We_ can give him a good home."

"And a family who actually gives a damn!" Han growled.

Thracken again looked between the couple. Han barely able to contain his loathing for his cousin and Leia, the consummate professional disguising her true feelings behind a diplomatic mask. If he played this just about right, there might be a profit to be had.

"I'll think about it." Thracken said and pushed to his feet.

"What's to think about?" Leia rose also, her thumb hovering close to her lightsabre's 'on' switch.

"There'll be legal documents. Fees to pay. Not to mention his medical bills." Thracken held his hands open. "I'm not a rich man."

"We can cover all financial considerations." Leia assured him.

"Yes. I bet you can." He grinned, checking her out. "We'll talk in the morning. You look like you need some rest, cousin."

xxxxxxxxxxxx

"He's playing us." Han stated after Thracken had left. "You offer him a hundred thousand credits, he'll want double."

"He's right about one thing, you do look like you need some rest." She smirked.

"He makes my trigger finger itch!" Han growled.

"Come on hotshot, let's get you into bed." She suggested, offering to help him. He waved away her proffered hand, insisting he 'wasn't so old he needed help to the 'fresher yet!'.

Leia maintained a distance safe enough not to be considered crowding him, but also close enough she could be on hand should he need help. He didn't and with his ablutions completed he settled onto a side, extending an arm for Leia to slip into.

"You're supposed to lie on your back." She reminded him, closing her eyes at the comfortable feel of him folding himself around her.

"I'll probably roll that way anyhow." He kissed her forehead and smiled as she tucked her head against shoulder, chest and chin, cooing into her hair. "I've missed this."

"I've missed this too." She replied, gently squeezing him a little tighter in her arms. "You know, when they called about the accident, at first I feared the worst. Then I realised that was not how Han Solo was going to die."

"You think they'll let us see Jarik?" He asked. "Just to make sure he's doing okay?"

"I don't know hon. We can swing by the Medical Centre tomorrow and ask if you want." She suggested, his warmth and the comfort of his arms lulling her.

"You think they'll charge me? I mean, 'procuring a minor', seriously?" He queried.

"Han!" She snapped. "Go to sleep, there's no point in worrying about that tonight."

Han knew she was right. Besides, incarceration for something as stupid as procuring a minor was also not how Han Solo was going to die either. It would be something far more heroic, like risking his life for his wife. Or his kids. Or from extreme old age.

He rolled onto his back, taking his wife with him. She was already sinking into her slumbers, he could feel the change in her breathing signifying the state of her relaxation and Han closed his eyes too.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Jacen Solo secured the Falcon in her usual berth and made his way across town to the apartment he was currently sharing with his pregnant sister.

To his immense relief, Jaina was already asleep when he arrived home. Under the circumstances he was not inclined to hear about her day with her husband. Despite the appalling attack that had come so close to robbing Jagged Fel of his life, the couple were as solid as they had ever been. More so and, in truth, the unexpected news that Jaina was carrying what might prove to be their only child had merely served to solidify their relationship further.

To Jacen, knowing Tenel Ka would soon be married to another, was almost more than he could bear. For a moment he gazed down at the sleeping form of his twin and considered plunging her lightsabre through her heart. But that would not end his misery. It would only deliver an unfathomable pain to the one woman in his life who had never let him down – his mother.

Jacen turned on his heel and headed to his own bedroom, to wallow in his own self pity. And to plot revenge on those who had brought him to this point.


	4. Chapter 4

"So, you two kissed and made up yet?" Jaina asked, pursing her lips at her mother.

"It was something and nothing. You'll understand when you've been together as long as your father and I have." Leia replied.

Mother and daughter had fought through much of Jaina's teenage years to emerge the other side a much stronger and closer couple. With her husband undergoing continued medical treatment, Jaina Solo-Fel had been meeting her mother every few days to share breakfast if for no better reason than to see a face not encased in a bacta mask and hear talk that revolved around more than just Jag's medical condition or forthcoming treatment regime.

"How is dad?" Jaina asked, reaching for a pastry.

"Bored." Leia replied, pouring herself a caf. "I can almost smell his desire to get back behind the yoke of the Falcon."

"And you've left him home? Alone? You're trusting him not to sneak out past security and go get her?" Jaina's eyebrow raised into her hairline.

"I never said he was alone." Leia said with a knowing smile though inside she wondered about the wisdom of leaving the Solo cousins in a confined space, with at least one loaded weapon.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

Han had positioned himself where he had the optimum view of the room as Thracken sauntered around admiring family holo's, touching items personal to Leia and Han and generally being, in Han's opinion, an asshole. He made a mental note to get Leia to sanitise everything Thracken touched once this day was over with.

Thracken paused at a glazed shell. A sentimental item Han had given Leia a lifetime ago, meaningless to most but to them there was a world of meaning attached to it. He raised an eyebrow in query at Han, who's sour expression persuaded him to replace it almost exactly where he found it and to ask no more.

"You done or do you want to see where we made love last night?" Han sneered and pointed at the sofa opposite his chair. "So you know, we favour the left-hand side for making out. Don't know why, we just kinda do."

"You paint an attractive picture of domestic bliss cousin." Thracken drawled, taking a seat on the left-hand side of the sofa. The side he'd been told they favoured. The side which Thracken reasoned would irritate Han the most and which Han knew was in point blank range of the hold-out blaster he was wearing.

_Fool me once, cousin! _Han thought.

"I figured you were interested, since you couldn't keep your eyes off of just about everything since you walked into our home." Han said.

Thracken managed to contain his laughter behind an amused smile.

"I've given your proposal some thought." Thracken said, picking a thread from his pants.

"And, let me guess, where's the profit in it for you?" Han suggested.

"There are a couple of issues that need attention." Thracken conceded. "For one, what's to stop you changing your mind?"

"What's to stop you?" Han countered.

"My point is, as you quite rightly noted, I have no interest in becoming a father. Jarik Sal-Solo would be a burden, not a blessing." Thracken said. "Today you and your lovely wife, claim to want to adopt him."

"We don't _claim_ anything. We _do_ want to adopt him." Han snarled.

"But suppose tomorrow one of you needed urgent medical care. How can I be sure you won't want to dump that little burden back in my lap?" Thracken asked.

"We have a network of family and friends who support us." Han explained. "We've got two grown up kids who'd look after him in a flash."

"As well as your other son, Jorj isn't it?" Thracken pressed.

"Like I said, we have a network." Han growled. "As well as the kids there's Winter, Wedge, Lando, Che..." He trailed off realising he was about to say 'Chewie', concluding quietly. "A whole network."

"Well I'm glad we cleared that up." Thracken smiled. It was not a good look. "Now we come to the other sticking point. And as you said, where's the profit in it for me?"

"You want us to buy your son...sorry, burden?" Han exclaimed.

"I prefer to think of it as a guarantee that you won't go back on your word to raise my 'burden' as your own." Thracken said.

"You were a coward fifty years ago Thracken and you're a coward now. Why can't you be honest just for once in your life." Han snarled.

"Fine!" Thracken sneered back. "You want me to say the words, I'll say the words. I don't want Jarik. Didn't when Rosa told me she was pregnant and I sure as Hell don't now. I'd be perfectly happy to see the kid rot in that stinking backwater cesspit he was conceived in." He relaxed, lightening his tone of voice. "However, an opportunity to rid myself of that little mistake and make a few credits has presented itself and I'm not one to look a gift tauntaun in the mouth. For the right price."

Han raised an eyebrow and waited.

"Fifty thousand." Thracken demanded.

Han barked a loud laugh. "Truth is, Leia and I couldn't lay our hands on that kind of money even if our kids' lives depended on it!" Han said. "

"You seriously expect me to believe the last Princess of Alderaan has money worries?" Thracken sneered.

"Are we living in an opulent palace?" Han queried, spreading his hands in demonstration.

Thracken studied his cousin through narrowed eyes, then grinned. "That the best sabacc face you got?"

Han simply stared back until Thracken could stand it no more. "I'll take forty. No less."

"We can't..." Han started, shaking his head.

"You can and you will if you want me to sign him over to you." Thracken insisted.

Han scratched his cheek and sighed. "We'll find a way to make the numbers. Somehow. But you gotta give us some time."

"You got four standard days." Thracken pushed to his feet.

"Four days!" Han exclaimed.

"Don't give me that!" Thracken groaned. "Sell some jewellery...hock some silver...I don't care! Just have the credits and the paperwork ready in four days. Or I'll be forced to take that brat with me when I leave."

"We'll do our best." Han assured Thracken who snorted a half-laugh.

"And I'll be in touch." Thracken promised Han, indicating he need not rise as he made his exit.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

It was another hour before Leia returned to their apartment, finding Han in the same chair she had left him in. She glanced around the room nervously.

"He's gone." Han confirmed.

"And?" Leia queried.

"Forty thousand." Han told her.

"I thought he'd have gone higher." She said, dropping to her knees by his chair. "You got it?"

"The forty thousand?" He asked curiously.

She arched an eyebrow and tilted her head.

"Every damn word." He replied, his half-grin sliding into place as he shook the recording disc at her. "I had to coax a little but he rolled over in the end."

"It's not like we're trying to get him arrested or anything." She noted.

"That'd just be a bonus." His grin widened. "Hey, an' guess what? I even managed to throw in a strangled 'Chewie' for extra emotional pull."

"You made copies?" She asked.

"Three. One for Thracken, one for Junia and this one." He indicated the disc he was holding. "The master is already safely tucked away where Thracken'll never get his hands on it. You know, having a friend who used to be in secret intelligence has proved quite useful. Even if she still doesn't like me."

"Winter likes you just fine." Leia assured him, lifting his hand to her lips and kissing it. "You want a bottle?"

"An ale would feel good about now, but..." He started.

"I _meant_ a 'bottle'!" She interrupted, nodding toward his abdomen.

"I didn't know watching me go was one of your fetishes Princess." He said with a twinkle in his eye.

"Do you want a bottle or not?" She repeated, her lips pursed to hide her amusement.

"Nah. So long as I take it slow I can get to the 'fresher and back." He told her. "You could anoint me though, if you feel like making me feel all warm and fuzzy inside."

His waggling eyebrows made the smirk on her face break into a wide grin.

"Come on stud." She rose and held out her hand to him. "Let's go massage some life back into those old spacer hips of yours."

He eased himself upright and stretched.

"Guess my days of long space flights are pretty much over." He said as they moved through to their bedroom.

"Another couple of days and you'll be fine." She assured him. "Besides, it'd take more than just a couple of broken bones to keep you out of the Falcon's cockpit!"

"Jace called while you were out." He said, leaving his boots where he dropped them. "Said he was gonna go visit Jaina and Jag at the Med Centre then he'd drop by around supper time." His pants followed his boots, as did his shirt. "So it's just you, me and a tube of lubricant." He lay back on the bed, hands resting behind his head, eyes closed, a lazy grin anchored to his lips. "Be gentle with me."

"I'll give you 'be gentle with me'!" She muttered, tidying his clothing away and getting the lotion from the 'fresher.

Han opened a single eye and tracked her as she returned to their bed.

"Since it's only the two of us, why don't you slip into something that ointment won't stain?" He suggested, eye closing once more. "Or you could just slip out of everything and save me the effort later."

She ignored his idea and perched beside his feet.

"Okay." He shrugged. "But don't say I didn't warn you. We both know once you start massaging this magnificent beast you won't be able to resist me."

"You know if your credit balance was as big as your ego..." She shook her head as she propped his leg against her thigh and started her massage around his ankle.

A long, low growl rumbled through his grin.

"Man, that feels good." He sighed.

"That'll be the analgesic." She suggested.

"Uh-uh." He rejected. "It's your healing hands."

"It's the analgesic." She insisted, shifting position to work on his other ankle.

He growled again and Leia tried not to smile.

"How's that feel?" She asked.

"Seriously Ley, you should take massage up as a career." He replied.

"I'll bear that in mind." She said "Five lifts while I cleanse my hands."

Han groaned but placed his hands beside his hips, dug his heels into the bed and pushed the lower half of his body into the air, counting to five.

"Done." He called, hearing the water still running in the 'fresher.

"You feel okay?" She called back.

"Like I could wrestle a bantha!" He replied.

"Five more then." She told him.

"Man!" He grumbled but made another three thrusts, the fourth and fifth he deemed too much effort. "Ten." He announced on hearing the 'fresher door cycle open and closed again.

"Eight. But nice try flyboy." She corrected.

"You got any idea how hard it is lifting this mass of muscle off the bed?" He queried, his nostrils enjoying the sweet feminine fragrance her return brought.

"I am somewhat acquainted with physical therapy, yes." She reminded him. "You want me to remove that or work around it?"

Han slid his hands again beneath his head, the grin returning to his face.

"It's called a strap." He replied. "Holds the vitals in a contained environment whilst providing the buttocks the freedom to drive all the girls crazy."

"It must be quite something, that Universe you live in." She suggested.

"Why don't you come on in and join me? You might even like it." Han laughed and opened his eyes, tilting his head to look down at her kneeling beside him. She had changed, stripping out of her clothes and now draped in a translucent negligee that perked him up instantly.

"Let your hair down." He said, his eyes holding hers.

She complied, reaching up to unpin the crown of braids, naked breasts pressed to the negligee's thin fabric. Leia shook her hair free, running her fingers through her tresses to free them from her traditional braids.

"What?" She blushed.

"A Princess." He mumbled. "And a guy like me."

"Are you _still_ thinking about that?" She queried.

"Be honest. If Luke hadn't been your brother, do you think you and he would have..." He jiggled his head from side to side. "You know."

"What makes you think a farmboy from Tatooine would be any more appropriate than a smuggler from Corellia?" She asked.

"Luke was the hero of the rebellion." He reminded her. "I was just the guy who came back 'cos he didn't wanna miss out on all the glory."

"You keep on telling yourself that Han. Maybe one day you'll believe it." She said, and moved to kneel between his thighs.

"So. Would you?" He pressed.

"I don't know. How can I answer that?" She replied, truthfully. "Half of that equation would be down to Luke and he was already moving in a different direction to me."

She squeezed a palmful of lotion and started to apply it around his hips.

Han's eyes rolled back in his head and hissed. "So good."

"I could make it better." She suggested.

Han knew exactly what she was talking about without the need for further explanation.

"You're doing just fine as you are." He told her.

When she'd finished, she slid off the bed and went to wash her hands again. "You know the routine, five stars either hip."

Han rolled onto his side and exercised his right leg as instructed, then rolled over to repeat with his left leg. Now facing the 'fresher, his heart rate increased as Leia returned to his side. Lying back, he patted his chest. "C'Mere."

Leia slipped into his side, pressing her now utterly naked body to his.  
An arm slid around her shoulders and Han wound his hand into her thicket of hair, kissing the top of her head.

They lay like that for several minutes before Han spoke. "Women...well, the kind of women I mostly associated with...they didn't kiss. They didn't get paid to get to know their clients on a personal level. They got paid to fuck."

He felt her tense against his side.  
He'd discovered over the years that the more she yearned to know about his past, the less she enjoyed knowing how he had lived. He'd also discovered that she accepted she couldn't have it both ways and knowing Han, _really_ knowing him, was preferable to the half-baked gossip she might hear over an official function's dinner table.  
Knowledge, in the circles Leia had moved, was power.

"But there was this one girl. She wasn't a prostitute. In fact, she was one of your lot." He continued.

"_My_ lot? Ambassador? Senator? Princess?" Leia queried, twisting her head to look up at him and arching an eyebrow.

"Rebel." He replied. "She and me, we got kind of...close..."

"You were lovers." Leia as much stated as asked.

"Off and on, yeah." He confirmed. "She was something else to a young Corellian pilot. Beautiful, intelligent, strong, determined. Quite the catch."

Leia pushed to one elbow, sweeping her hair from her shoulder to cascade down her back.

"You were more than just lovers." She said, sensing his feelings. "You're talking about Bria Tharen."

"We were together about a year. It wasn't enough in the end. _I_ wasn't enough in the end." He cupped her face and stroked a cheek with his thumb. "We spent that year getting to know one another. Getting to know what we liked and how we liked it. And she was _very_ talented."

"You loved her. You've talked about her before. Admittedly not in such deeply sexual overtones." Leia cringed at the jealousy in her voice.

"She taught me a lot; she taught me not to rely on anyone to be there for me except myself. Then you came along and I had to relearn that lesson. And she made me realise why it is prostitutes don't kiss. It's not just about attachment." He let the pad of his thumb graze her bottom lip. "When I kiss you, I taste you." His eyes moved from her lips to her eyes and held a steady gaze. "I don't wanna taste me on your lips the way I did with Bria."

Leia smiled her understanding and made a silent resolve not to press that particular issue again. She tucked herself back into the envelope of his embrace, fingertips teasing at his chest hair.

"I love you Leia." Han said, after a period of quiet cuddling. "I know I don't tell you that nearly often enough."

He felt the warmth of her smile against his chest.

"You don't have to say it. Just so long as you always go on feeling it." She lifted her head to look once more into his eyes. "I'll always know."

"That idiot doctor said I should abstain from physical exertion for another week." He said, carefully rolling her onto her back. "But I figure if we take it slow. Maybe stop for a rest if it becomes too much for me. Then I think we ought to be able to take advantage of our age and experience and optimise this quiet time alone together. While we still have it."

"You did your exercises?" She asked.

"Most of 'em." He replied with a grin.

"And there's no overt pain?" She queried.

"None whatsoever." He replied. "But you could keep the analgesic cream to hand in case. Just, be careful where and what you rub with it. You have no idea how hard it's getting to keep the little guy perked up without medicinal intervention!"

"And they say romance is dead!" She sighed.

"I can still do romantic." He insisted.

"Still?" She teased.

His arms were around her, tickling her ribs as she giggled. His mouth was at her lips, then her neck, then her throat, then her everything.  
They made love. Long and slow and tremendously sensuous love that they thought was probably the greatest. At least until the next time.  
And then they lay in one another's arms. Grateful that the ravages of time hadn't been too unforgiving. They had both made compromises and sacrifices along the way, but their ability to intertwine was ultimately what had saved their marriage.

"How did Jacen sound?" Leia asked, a finger softly caressing his raised nipple.

"Like he always sounds, sullen, moody, pissed off maybe." Han replied, willing her ministrations to encourage a rise from another part of his anatomy.

"I hope he's all right." She muttered, regretting her words and lifting her chin to his chest. "I know you think I smother him."

"Now I never said that." He denied, shaking his head. Her expression caused him to reassess that statement. "All right. Maybe I did. But I was still smarting over Chewie at the time."

"He's still my baby." She said, returning her cheek to his chest. "I can't just turn off my feelings for him because he's older."

Han rolled his eyes but managed to keep the 'tut' behind his teeth.

"You gotta let him grow up Ley. Start fighting his own battles. How else is he going to learn to be a man?" Han asked and a wave of unpleasant nostalgia swept over him. He untangled himself from her embrace and sat up, planting his feet firmly on the floor.

"Han? What is it?" Leia queried, concerned.

"I can't believe I just said that!" He replied, turning to regard her. "I sounded just like my old man. Right before he'd beat the poodoo outta me!"

Leia slid up the bed to bunch herself against the pillows.

"You've never really talked about him. Not in any great detail at least." She said, studying his increasingly uncomfortable demeanour.

One shoulder rose minutely before returning to it's original position.

Leia watched him as his gaze dropped to mull over the carpet at his feet. She scooted forward to circle his chest with her arms, pressing herself to his shoulder blades and planting a firm kiss to his flesh.

"You have been a wonderful father to our children." She said, holding him tightly. "I couldn't have asked or wished for better."

"Certainly didn't learn by example!" He stated.

"Maybe you did." She suggested, earning a sour frown from over Han's shoulder. "No. Seriously. It's a little about-face I know but, if you think about it, he taught you how _not_ to be a father."

He looked at her sceptically before laughing lightly and running a hand through his hair.

"Always the politician." He grinned at her. "Is there anything you can't put a positive spin on?"

She considered a moment. "I have difficulty with an empty carton of milk in the refrigeration unit when there's a perfectly good recycling receptacle right beside it. But otherwise, no, not a whole lot."

"I was gonna replace that." He promised.

"Sure you were." She teased. "For like the first time ever."

Leia shuffled back against her nest of pillows and patted the bed beside her. Han accepted the invitation and moved beside her, slipping the bed's coverlet over them.

"You must have _some_ happy memories of your father." Leia said. "Birthdays? Family picnics? Holidays?"

"Sure." He confessed. "I remember being, I dunno, about Jorj's age maybe an' hearing my Mom and Dad laughing." He allowed a soft smile to part his lips. "You know, there's no sweeter sound than your Mama and Papa when they're in a good place." He tossed her a wink for good measure. "Or the Falcon's engines on full burn."

Leia laughed and crept a little closer to him as his face darkened.

"But mostly I remember the drunken rages." He told her solemnly. "He'd lash out at just about anybody. Freya took a couple of hits until she learned to duck. Then _I'd_ get the clump round the head instead!" He inhaled deeply. Leia suspected to stifle back a sob. "Mom took the brunt, of course. She'd do her best to placate him with his favourite food...or more beer...or sex. He was an ugly drunk. He'd gobble down the food, swill back the beer and take Mom where she stood. An' he was rough." Leia watched the bob of his throat as he swallowed. "I'd hear her try not to cry out so Freya an' me wouldn't be scared. The day after, she'd be so sore she'd barely be able to walk or sit. But she'd carry on same as always, so as not to give him cause to turn on Freya. Or me."

They sat, quietly absorbed in their own thoughts for a few minutes. Then, in an act of fury, Han grabbed all the pillows he could reach and tossed them across the room. Breathing heavily he turned sorrowful eyes onto Leia.

"That night." He swallowed, fighting to control his emotions. "That night I...when I..."

"It's forgotten." She whispered, reaching out to stroke his cheek. He batted her hand aside.

"Not by me it's not!" He spat. "That night I raped you. I was _him, _through and through. I didn't hear you begging me to stop. I didn't listen when you pleaded with me. I didn't care that Jacen was in the next room. I was just consumed by my own wants and needs and desires and in that moment you meant _nothing_ to me."

He stopped, averted his eyes and slowed his breathing.

"That's why you left." She suddenly realised. "You weren't pushing me or the kids away. You were frightened of who you were becoming. In your own way, as you always have, you were protecting us."

"How could you possibly love me?" He queried, genuinely confused. "Knowing where I came from."

"You mean with my impeccable pedigree?" She asked, a hint of amusement reflected in her wide brown eyes.

"You always were and always will be a Princess, no matter who your real parents were." He stated, mirroring the humour in his own hazel eyes.

She smiled softly and leaned forward to press a light kiss to his lips.

"That's why you're going to pick those pillows up and put them back where they belong." She told him, using the same uncompromising tone of voice he'd grown used to.

Accepting his fate, Han swung his legs from the bed and retrieved the pillows muttering that bending was not on his exercise regime. Leia hid her smile behind a hand but failed to prevent an amused giggle from bursting forth.

"Don't think I don't know what's going through your mind Princess." Han said, his back to her as he bent to grab another pillow. "And if I'm honest, it's really not becoming of Royalty."

Han turned to find her still sitting on the bed but now cradling something in her hands. Maybe he didn't know what was going through her mind after all.

"Whatcha got there?" He asked, nodding his head toward her hands.

"Father's pocket watch." She held it up for him to see. "I made Jorj leave it here while he was at school."

Han made a clicking noise behind his teeth. "Bothan-Giver!" He cursed, light-heartedly.

"I've been thinking about it a lot lately." She said, letting her fingers smooch it's contours. It was cool to the touch but if she concentrated, Leia could still feel Bail Organa's warm essence upon it through the Force.

Han dumped the pillows on the bed and sank into the mattress beside her.

"You want to hear the message." He stated.

"It's something Luke said." She told him, then sighed. "No. It's something I was feeling and Luke could sense it."

"About Bail?" Han asked.

"About you." She looked up at him, a puzzled frown creasing his brow. "The connection I feel to Jarik, the only explanation I could come up with was that he was your son."

"But he's not. I already told you that and...and I _thought_ you believed me." He said.

"I did. I _do_. And this random gene he's got proves without a doubt he's not yours." She replied.

"You needed proof." He nodded, understanding. "Time was when my word would have been enough."

Grasping the watch in one hand, Leia slid her free hand along Han's cheek turning his face to hers. "I never felt like I belonged to the House Organa. I know that sounds like the benefit of hindsight talking, but it's true. There was always a part of me that seemed to be missing."

"Like a twin brother maybe?" He asked.

"Maybe. I don't know, but I felt whenever Bail looked at me he was always apprehensive. Always afraid that I'd be taken away from him by someone or something beyond his control." She answered. "Or maybe that I'd find someone, or something that I would follow willingly."

"Vader?" He suggested, correcting himself. "Sorry, Anakin. I know you don't like me using his Sith name."

"Maybe. Or Luke. When I was first introduced to the Senate, Darth Vader took an immediate interest in me." She recalled, deliberately using her biological father's Sith designation.

"Latent Force-something-or-other?" Han queried.

She shrugged, lightly. "Possibly. Maybe I was feeling drawn to him, the same way I feel drawn to Jarik."

"You're not suggesting Jarik has something to do with Vad...Anakin Skywalker are you?" He asked.

"No, no." She shook her head and rubbed a worry line from her forehead. "I don't know what I'm suggesting. Maybe it's just with us dredging up our pasts again. All I know is, I now want to know what this last message contains."

He drew her palm to his lips, kissing it tenderly.

"Personally, I'm surprised it took you this long." He told her, grabbing them both a robe.

"Oh!" She exclaimed. While Han had been pulling on his own robe and returning to the bed with hers, Leia had opened the compartment to retrieve her adoptive father's message and found it empty.

"I waited too long." She whispered. "Must have had a time-out mechanism. Makes sense I suppose in case it fell into the wrong hands."

Leia took the offered robe from Han and clutched it to her as she snapped the pocket watch clasp shut.  
Han recognised the familiar melancholy settle around her as she forced herself into her robe and decided he needed to do something about it.

"I might be able to explain the reason behind that 'draw' you feel toward Jarik." Han said.

Leia's big brown eyes blinked up at him expectantly.

"It wasn't just his fists he liked to share around." Han explained. "Dad liked to think he was a bit of a lady's man. About the time Mom was having Freya, Dad got a little friendlier than was really necessary with Thracken's Mom."

"Jonash Solo is Thracken's father!" Leia's jaw dropped open as realisation dawned. "With his own sister!"

"Half sister." He corrected. "Told ya he was a piece o' work! Thracken doesn't know. At least I'm pretty sure he doesn't know. Then again, maybe he does. Maybe that's why he hates the very air that I breathe!"

"I'm..I'm...astonished! Did your mother know?" Leia asked, her tone apprehensive.

Han shrugged. "Mom forgave Dad everything. His gambling. His women. His violent behaviour. Everything."

Leia reached up to grab the lapels of Han's robe and pull him down to her. Then she kissed him, hard.

"There's something else I should tell you." He confessed. "It's about the pocket watch."

She released his lapels and narrowed her eyes at him.

Han slid back onto the bed beside her.

"When you said you wanted to give the watch to Jorj, I had a feeling you'd want to hear that last message your father left you." He admitted. "So, when I had the chance, I asked Winter if she'd try to retrieve and record it."

"So _you_ destroyed it." She said.

"Well, technically, it was Winter." He pointed out.

"Why would you do that?" She questioned.

"I didn't want it to get destroyed." He answered honestly.

"But it was!" She snapped, frowning.

"I didn't know that." He said defensively.

"Un-believable!" She growled. "You are utterly unbelievable."

"What can I say?" He lifted a shoulder innocently. "I'm sorry."

"And to drag Winter into your plan..." She shook her head.

"Hey! There was no dragging. She was a willing participant." He argued.

Her glare indicated she was far from impressed.

"Hey!" He nudged her and grinned. "Gotcha something by way of apology."

He could hear the growing fury in each and every in- and exhale as he deliberately took his time locating his gift. Once it was found he made an equally annoying job of presenting it, opting to hide it behind his back and ask she guess which hand. When her withering glare proved too much, he produced his hand and the disc it held for her examination.

Leia's jaw dropped open again and she blinked rapidly.

"My...my father?" She breathed.

"Skips in a couple of places. Winter said it was probably degradation due to it's age. But otherwise, it's just as he recorded it." He smiled.

Leia reached small, tentative fingers to lift the disc from Han's palm. When he started to withdraw, Leia insisted he stay.  
They snuggled close, Han drawing Leia into the circle of his arms as he placed their personal comm on his thigh and dropped the disc into it's playback slot.  
It took a moment or two for the disc to settle into it's continuous rotating rhythm, then an image shimmered to life.  
For the first time in thirty years, Leia found herself looking down at the holographic image of the man she would always call 'father'.

"He looks older than I remember him." She commented.

Han just held her and let his love caress her.

The hologram acknowledged her with a slight bow from the neck and Bail Organa began to speak.

"I bid you greetings from Alderaan and hope this message finds you well." He started. Then paused, his demeanour changing as his body seemed to sag from the shoulders. "Leia, my child, I pray that this message finds you _at_ _all_. The Emperor has dissolved the Senate and news has reached the Palace that your ship and all on board was lost. I cannot believe...I _will_ _not_ believe that you are gone. I already miss your boundless energy and your unwavering belief in good over evil, in right from wrong. And that impish smile you allow to light your face far too infrequently.

My beautiful, beautiful girl my heart aches at the thought of your loss when there's simply just so much I have yet to tell you. When my darling Breha passed from this world, it was _you_ who gave me the courage to continue. Had it not been for you, Leia, I should have had no reason to rise in the morning, to sleep at night, nor draw breath into my lungs. You know already, without me ever speaking the words, you are not my blood child. But you are my own by _heart_. Your mother, may the saints and spirits guard her soul, died in childbirth and when I offered to take you I promised you would be loved. And you _are_. I could not love you more if it truly was my blood that coursed through your veins. I fear greatly for a Galaxy in which you no longer exist. And I fear greatly for the man you called father if he must live the rest of his life without you by his side."

Bail stopped and the image seemed to pause, jump and pause again before he continued. "The greatest adventure was still to come for you, my little one." He allowed himself a smile. "I pity those who might have seen themselves worthy of your affections. I suspect they would have found themselves sorely disappointed. My vivacious Princess requires more skill than a pretty word or fanciful deed. She needs a suitor not afraid to challenge her mind or her misconceptions or her motives. I should have liked to have seen you married with a family of your own. If the reports are true, the prospect of seeing that vision flourish seems nothing but a wasted dream."

Another skip. Brief and appearing only to miss the movement of Bail Organa from a standing to a seated position, before he went on. "I pray this message finds you safe and well and, one day, in the arms of a man you might love with all of your heart. And whom I might be honoured to call my son. I pray this message finds you alive and in good health and leading by example, as you have always done. I pray my darling, beautiful, loving child that when you receive this message you are able to respond and tell me that my fears and woes are nothing but ramblings of an ageing man too long afraid of shadows he cannot see.

And I pray, my beautiful daughter that if nothing else, you know this of me; that I loved you from the moment I first cradled you in my arms and that love I will carry with me from this world into the beyond." Bail's voice cracked and then he spoke one last time. "Alderaan signing off."

Han and Leia sat, quietly in each other's embrace, digesting what they had just watched and heard.

"He loved you very much." Han noted.

"He did." Leia nodded.

"I didn't figure on it being so...intense." He admitted.

"He believed I was dead. He was making his peace with my soul until we meet again in the life beyond. Thank you. For being here with me."

He winked and dipped his head to kiss her lips, tenderly.

"We ought to be getting ready. Jacen'll be here soon." He reminded her.

"Five more minutes?" She pleaded.

"Why not." He agreed with a soft smile.

Placing the comm to one side, Han curled himself against his wife's tiny frame and hugged her. In a short time, without realising or trying, the couple were soundly asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

Soundly asleep was exactly how Jaina Solo-Fel discovered her parents. 

For the longest time they had woken at the sound of a breath out of place. More recently, either as a natural result of the ageing process or more accurately in Jaina's mind due to their relaxed station in life, they had managed to sleep through some considerable noise pollution. 

Plus, she noted with a satisfied smile, there was the distinct scent of sex in the bedroom air. Her parents had clearly been enjoying their 'bliss' time fully engaged in blissful contentment.

She returned to the living quarters, still smiling, and turned the flowers she'd bought in their vase 30 degrees to the right.

"Well aren't you the pitten who got the cream!" Jacen sneered.

"Mom and Dad are enjoying a post coital snooze." She told him.

"Great!" He grunted and rolled his eyes.

"You know, you could try being just a little bit happy for them. I mean, it's not so long ago they were barely talking." She told him.

"They don't have to hump every five minutes to prove a point." He grumbled.

"Just because _you're_ not getting any!" She growled.

"_You're_ not getting any either!" He growled back.

"Who's not getting any what?" Han asked, yawning as he strolled into the living quarters. "An' keep the noise down will ya, your mother's just had an emotional journey."

"For kriff sake Dad, call it what it is, you've been banging her all afternoon!" Jacen barked.

"Aren't you supposed to be using the repulsor chair?" Jaina queried.

"First of all, your mother and I make love, we don't 'bang'. Banging's for kids on a one nighter not grown ups in strong, stable, happy and loving relationships." Han shook an angry finger at his son, then at his daughter. "Second of all, I know my own body. If I needed the damn chair I'd be sat in the damn chair. And third of all, how'd you kids get in here anyway?"

"Kids birth dates are never a good option to use as a security code Dad." Jaina shook her head.

"How am I supposed to remember it if it's just a set of random digits." He asked.

"By memory. Same way you do with the Falcon." Leia answered as she joined the group.

Han laughed.

"You think I memorised that?" He asked her quietly. "The numbers mean anything to ya?"

Leia shook her head in confusion.

"They're _my_ birth date." He poked a thumb in his own chest.

"Those digits don't match the date we celebrate your birthday." Leia said, further confused.

"Trust me, we _always_ celebrate my birthday on my birthday." He grinned, lasciviously. "Just not with cake and candles. Or a whole lot o' clothing."

"But..." Her thought process continued. "That makes you two years older than you told me."

"An' I still got it where it counts sweetheart!" He gloated loudly enough for his children to hear and groan at.

"I can't believe you lied about your age." Leia muttered, poking him in the ribs. "To me!"

"Honey, I've lied to everybody about something. I wouldn't want you to feel left out." He told her.

"Scoundrel!" She hissed.

"You never answered my question." Han said, turning back to his children. "Who's not getting any what?"

"Us." Jacen replied, looking at Jaina.

"Sex." Jaina added, looking at Jacen.

"Oh." Han said, looking briefly at Leia. "Your Mom and me are gonna go get cleaned up. You two can start dinner."

Jaina and Jacen prepared vegetables and side dishes until a freshly showered Han ushered them out of his kitchen to take over with his special preparation of the meat. The Solo twins considered this ritual of tenderising and marinating the nerf to be unnecessary but neither had the courage to say so in front of their father.

While Jaina set the table, Jacen took the controls of his father's repulsor chair and guided it around the living quarters' furniture as if he was flying the Falcon herself.

"You better not break anything." She told him.

"I know what I'm doing." He veered around a sofa halting at the head of the table.

"It's not a toy Jacen." She admonished him.

"Once more round the asteroid field and then I'll call it a day. That okay with you _Mom_?" He asked, sarcastically.

Jaina exhaled with annoyance as Jacen swivelled the chair and took off again.

"Mom will freak if you damage any of her Alderaan artefacts." She reminded him.

Jacen drew the chair to another halt and strode from it's resting place to the table Jaina was arranging.

"You still not going to the Wedding?" He asked.

"No, of course not. I can't leave Jag on his own all that time." She replied. "Besides, I promised to look after Jorj so Mom and Dad could make a long weekend of it."

Jacen barked a laugh. "Two retards for the price of one!" He scoffed.

Jaina sizzled. "First, Jorj is not a 'retard'. And second, neither is Jag." She fumed.

"It's just a joke sis." He apologised. "Where's that great Solo sense of humour gone?"

"Maybe I don't have much to laugh about right now." Jaina moved her vase of flowers a quarter turn to the left. When Jacen didn't question her, she lifted her eyes to look at him from beneath her lashes. "Not a word to either of them okay?"

Jacen nodded.

"We're broke. Flat-broke. In fact, up-to-our-asses-in-debt broke." She confided, her voice low.

Jacen swallowed, dumb-founded.

"Jag's treatments have drained just about every last credit we had set aside." She dropped into a chair and leaned into the elbows she'd planted on the table. "Mom, Dad and the Fels are already doing more than enough, I can't ask them for any more. I've sold Jag's airspeeder, mine too and the landspeeder goes to auction next week. I still have a little jewellery and the apartment, but it'd only cover the next four instalments and that's _if_ I managed to sell everything. Now Jag's got it into his head he doesn't need the physical therapy, which is poodoo because he does. And as if that wasn't bad enough, I'm pregnant!"

Jacen hissed. "Why didn't you say something?"

"It's our problem Jace." She said, a sad smile teasing the corner of her lips. "We have to sort this ourselves."

"If I can help..." He offered.

"Well...I'm kinda glad you asked." She leaned toward him and lowered her voice further. "What if I told you I knew someone who knew someone who could get us a consignment of something not entirely legal on a sale or return basis."

Jacen leaned in closer still. "I'd say you weren't just broke, you were spiced out of your head too!"

"I thought you wanted to help." She growled.

"Help yes. Get five to ten on Kessel, not so much." He leaned back and tapped Jaina's arm as their mother appeared, still pinning her braid to her head.

"What beautiful flowers." Leia smiled.

"Least I could do." Jaina replied breezily. "First breakfast and now dinner. I'm feeling spoiled."

"You see Han." Leia was saying as she continued through into the kitchen. "Lovely gestures like that don't go unnoticed."

Han and Leia were talking amongst themselves as Jacen leaned forward again, keeping his voice low.

"I love you Jaina, that's why I'm gonna to be straight with you. You have to talk to Mom and Dad about this." Jacen looked up to check neither of his parents were listening and could see they were engrossed in each other. His father insisting his mother sample his special homemade sauce whilst his mother pulled a face and fondled one of his buttock cheeks. Jacen then returned his attention to Jaina. "If you don't, I will."

"Be ready in five." Han called before bending to nibble at Leia's ear. "You could be right. They were bickering a few minutes ago now they look like they're planning a heist."

"I knew I'd walked in on something." She said, her face one huge smile but her voice laced with worry. "I'll take Jaina, you take Jacen."

"Wouldn't we be better the other way around?" He asked, finding a soft spot of flesh beneath Leia's ear to caress with his lips.

"I'm not sure you'd fit in with what I have in mind." She straightened and playfully slapped Han's behind, adding with a wink. "Later hotshot!"

Leia made Han sit with Jaina opposite him while she and Jacen transported food from the kitchen to the table. Once everything was ready, Leia took her seat with Jacen opposite her.

"Help yourselves to vegetables while I carve the beast!" Han told them, taking up his best steak knife and starting to carve thick slices of roast nerf.

With their plates full, the family began to eat.

"There's something so civilised about sitting down to eat dinner as a family." Leia pronounced.

"We never really did this all that often when we were growing up. You'd be stuck in Senate and Dad'd be back late from a run." Jaina observed.

"Coruscant traffic control was such a nightmare!" Han growled. "I tried everything reasoning with them. I even tried sleeping with the boss. Lotta good that did me!"

"It got you four beautiful children and don't you forget that." Leia reminded him, staying the hand that was about to spear a fourth slice of nerf.

"Still made me late for supper every evening." Han grumbled, withdrawing the hand sans meat.

"It wasn't all bad was it? We had some good times too." Leia winced at the spicy sauce and downed several mouthfuls of water to compensate. "Why'd you always have to make the sauce so damned hot?"

"I like it the same way I like my women." Han waggled his eyebrows at her.

"Are you all right Jaina, you're looking tired and a little pale." Leia said, turning her attention to her daughter.

"I'm fine Mom. I missed lunch is all." Jaina answered.

"You skipped lunch?" Leia exclaimed, shaking her head. "You shouldn't be skipping lunch while you're pregnant."

"I _missed_ lunch, I didn't skip it." Jaina corrected. "I got wrapped up in Jag's intensive therapy and just lost track of time."

"Even so..." Leia started.

"Mom would you just drop it!" Jaina's fork clattered to her plate. "It was one lunch. I'll make up for it tomorrow, okay?"

Jaina picked up her fork and the table fell silent except for the sounds of knives and forks against china.

"I'm sorry." Leia apologised when the quiet became too deafening.

"No. I'm the one who's sorry." Jaina said. "You're right, I am tired. It's just all the treatments and being at the medical centre all the time, it gets to me sometimes."

"Well, I may have a temporary solution to that." Leia suggested. "Your father and I promised we'd take Jorj back to the beach this weekend so long as Han's feeling up to the journey. So we thought it might be nice if you and I spent some time together too. Just the two of us, you know, mother and daughter time."

"I don't want to leave Jag for a weekend at the beach Mom, but thanks. I appreciate the gesture, honestly." Jaina said. And she did.

"I wasn't thinking the whole weekend." Leia advised. "Your father and I have some business to attend to tomorrow regarding Jarik. Jorj should be home about the usual time and we'll set off early the following day for the beach. Then the day after, we thought you and I could have a half day at the spa while your Dad and Jacen teach Jorj all about the Falcon."

"Jorj'd love that." Jacen grinned.

"That's just what your father said." Leia agreed.

"When did 'we' come up with that idea?" Han asked, frowning.

"We've been discussing it for a little while, remember?" Leia asked pointedly.

"Oh yeah, it's coming back to me now." Han smiled half-heartedly. "It was just the bit about the Falcon and a six year old's sticky fingers I'd forgotten about!"

Leia turned back to Jaina.

"Just you and me, relaxing after a manicure, a facial and a massage..." Leia let the temptation hang.

A girl who had loved nothing more than getting down and dirty in the bowels of the Falcon with her father, Jaina was equally at home wrapped in a fluffy towel and being pampered.

"It's kind but..." Jaina started.

"I'm not taking no." Leia interrupted.

"Looks like it's yes then." Jaina sighed and returned to her dinner.

"Dad, do we still have those blocks in storage?" Jacen asked.

"What blocks? I don't remember any blocks." Han grumbled, stuffing a chunk of nerf into his mouth.

"Sure you do. You used to tie them to Jaina's feet so her little legs could reach the pedals." Jacen grinned. "We could show Jorj how to _fly_ the Falcon. I mean _really_ fly her."

Han's face paled. "He's six." He reminded Jacen.

"And he's never even been off planet." Jacen pointed out. "By the time we were six, we'd been around the Galaxy a hundred times or more."

"That's settled then. Jaina and I will have an afternoon of pampering and you boys can go and get to be boys together." Leia beamed.

"I've got a bad feeling about this!" Han muttered around his nerf.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

The day at the beach was a huge success even if Han and Leia were twice as exhausted as their excited six year old when they got home. Jorj's further excitement threatened to overwhelm them after he had been told that the following day he would be allowed at the controls of his father's pride and joy, the Millennium Falcon. It was only the fear that the trip might be cancelled that finally managed to temper the child's enthusiasm.

In the end, the brief flight had proved far more traumatic than anyone could have envisioned.  
Jorj Bailey Solo, youngest of the Solo children, born prematurely and initially given only the smallest chance of survival had defied the odds from birth. Having been told he was unlikely to walk, talk or lead a normal life; at six he was doing exactly that. Some of his cognitive and motor functions remained impaired and his emotional responses to events he perceived as stressful could perhaps be described as excessive.

Jorj had trailed after his father and brother in wide-eyed wonderment, taking in every word as they'd explained the function of every corner, every piece of engineering equipment, every button, every dial and every lever the Falcon had to offer.

Then they had taken to the skies. Jacen at the controls, Han his co-pilot, for a short flight through the atmosphere to the edge of space before returning to their permanent berth. Jacen explained the purpose of the navicomputer and why it wouldn't be employed for this journey.

Jorj had squirmed in his father's lap, despite Han's repeated requests to try to sit still. Every fidget had aggravated the ache in Han's hips to the point where he was on the verge of losing his temper with his young son.

And then the vomiting had started.  
Despite the ship's built in atmospheric compensator's, Jorj's inability to process the differences in air pressure led to a series of prolonged and quite explosive bouts of projectile vomiting.

Jacen had returned the Falcon to her berth as soon as he was able and Han had carried his still sick son home before crawling into his own bed and collapsing face down into his pillows.

Leia had taken over, soothed Jorj and settled him into his small bed, a bowl nearby should the need arise. Jorj had whimpered and snuffled and Leia had remained by his side, smoothing his hair and telling him over and over that he was going to be all right and that his Mama was with him.  
When she was assured he had finally drifted off to sleep, Leia slipped away to check on her husband.

Still with his face buried in pillows, Han groaned when she touched his shoulder.

"Jorj is asleep. How are you doing?" She asked.

"Man that kid can vomit!" He growled and rolled cautiously onto his back.

"You sore?" She queried. "I'll get the rub."

When she returned from the 'fresher, he had wriggled his pants as far as his thighs and given up.

"That bad huh?" Leia asked.

"Little beast wouldn't sit still with excitement." He said, as Leia pulled his boots off. "That was my first mistake, sitting the kid on my lap so he could see out the forward viewport."

"Then what?" She questioned, tugging his pants down and off his legs.

"First his bony ass was digging into me and then he'd be climbing up on his bony knees to get a better look!" He groaned as she applied the anti-inflammatory cream to his hips. "The instant we hit the atmosphere he started spewing and he didn't stop until after we'd landed."

"Oh my poor, sweet boy!" Leia exclaimed, carefully massaging Han's pelvic region.

"Poor, sweet boy my aunt fanny's ass!" Han grunted. "Galactic City traffic was at a standstill so I had to carry him all the way back here from the Hangar. Those last few steps I thought were gonna be the last one's I ever took. And spare a thought for Jacen. It's gonna take him a month to get the stench outta the Falcon."

"You left Jacen to clean up?" Leia asked, astonished.

"Hey, I had to get our six-year-old home pronto. There's a fine for honking on the walkway you know!" He explained, lifting his head to look at her.

"I know." She barked. "I was on the Committee that set the levy! It was designed to deter drunkenness in public."

"Then you've only yourself to blame." He muttered dropping his head back on the pillow and wincing as she massaged a particularly delicate spot with little too much vigour.

"I can't believe you left Jacen to clean up the mess." She said, shaking her head and starting to work on his ankles. "And why didn't you take your repulsor chair?"

"I hate that thing. Makes me look old." Han grumbled.

"I hate to burst that bubble you live in Han, but you _are_ old." She told him.

"Not that old I'm not." He argued, tilting his head to watch her again. "I got nothing outta Jace. How'd you get on with Jaina?"

"It can wait until morning." Leia sighed. "Roll over and I'll do your back."

Han rolled gently onto his stomach and felt his eyes roll back in his head when Leia's soft hands began rotating around his hips and lower back.

"Damn I wish I didn't ache so much." He rumbled. "The things your hands do to me Mrs Solo..."

He closed his eyes and let the warmth spread throughout his lower regions the way his grin crept up the side of his face.

Leia let herself dwell longer than was truly necessary on and around the hips that had so entranced her idealist, youthful self and only after Han's steady breathing evolved into the resonance of the soft snore he had developed did she take her leave.

Cleansing her hands and draping a light covering across her husband, Leia returned to sink into the carpet beside Jorj's bed. His eyes fluttered open and watery dark orbs blinked at her through the room's dim light.

"Mama's here." She cooed and stroked Jorj's cheek.

Jorj snuffled back a tear. "I like the beach better Mama." He told her.

"We'll go back again soon, I promise." She smiled. "Close your eyes and go back to sleep."

"Tomorrow?" Jorj asked.

"You think you'll feel well enough to go to the beach tomorrow?" Leia queried.

"Ahuh." Jorj nodded. "I don't feel icky no more."

"If you feel well enough for the beach, then you'll be well enough for school." Leia said.

"Oh man!" Jorj sighed.

"Sleep little man." Leia kissed Jorj's forehead and continued stroking his hair. "We'll see how you feel tomorrow."

Leia stayed right where she was, resting her head beside her son's on his small pillow.  
She had been consumed with her work establishing the New Republic when Jaina, Jacen and Anakin had been Jorj's age. Though none of them had suffered from anything more serious than the occasional bout of sickness or a head cold, it had fallen primarily on Winter to nurse them through their illnesses.

With Jorj it had been different and Leia had loved every minute of it. Even when he was so desperately ill following his premature arrival, she had kept her faith and cherished every waking moment with the tiny bundle she and Han had been blessed with.

xxxxxxxxxxxx

By the time they all sat down to breakfast, it was perfectly clear that Jorj had recovered completely from his sickness the day before and was eager to get to school and tell his teacher all about his weekend at home.

Han had facetiously suggested Jorj take a bowl of vomit to show Miss Fizz, Jorj's personal tutor and the object of the boy's first crush.

When Jorj turned his big, questioning eyes up to his mother, Leia had quashed the idea advising that 'Papa was only joking', before scowling at Han for putting the notion into their son's head. After his escort had collected Jorj, Han leaned back in his chair and released a long, deep sigh.

"I love that kid Ley, you know I do." He said. "But I love him on school days best of all."

"How are you feeling this morning?" She asked, nodding her head at his abdomen.

"Bit early for me Hon, but if you're feeling frisky..." He replied, fingering his belt buckle.

"Steady flyboy, I was only asking after your health." She corrected him.

"I knew that." He shot back quickly, accepting the fresh caf she brought him. "I'm guessing the spa revealed more than your usual dermabrasion treatment does."

"Dermabrasion?" Leia cocked her head to one side.

"Is...that...not what it's called?" He asked, nervously.

"We didn't actually go to the spa." Leia swerved answering the question. "We decided it was an extravagance we could live without."

"I thought after all those years of austerity at the hands of the Empire, you'd decided extravagance was the new poverty." He joked. Leia's eyebrow rose again. "Oh come on! That was a joke and you know it!"

"Jaina's in trouble." Leia said, leaning her elbows on the table.

"What kind o' trouble? The having twins kind o' trouble or the having triplets kind o' trouble?" He asked.

"The in serious financial trouble kind of trouble." Leia replied and sighed. "She's doing her best to stay afloat but Jag's medical bills are draining the life out of them. They both have small retainers from Rogue Squadron but that barely covers the basics and it's not going to continue for much longer."

"Yeah. I can relate to that." Han swept a hand over his face. "I remember your bills. Not that I'm complaining, I'd have paid double and then some to have you back the way you were before you were attacked. I still remember those bills stacking up though. How bad is it?"

"Bad! I said we'd do more to help but she was adamant that we mustn't." Leia said.

"Well of course we'll do more. No matter what she says." Han insisted.

"You remember that ring you bought me from Anchorhead?" She asked. "Do you think it would be worth much?"

"I doubt it!" He chuckled. "I was just a struggling smuggler back then, not the pillar of respectability I am today. Besides, you're not selling your jewellery."

"There are some nice pieces in storage." She suggested. "I could offer them to private collectors. Alderaanian artefacts are very highly prized."

"That's because there are so few." He argued. "And you're not hocking the family silver either. We'll find a way to make this right. Don't worry, I still got a few contacts in the business I can rely on."

"I also wondered..." Leia nibbled her lower lip before continuing. "I thought maybe now wasn't the best time to be pursuing an adoption plan."

Han could see her logic. He just didn't like it.

"Been giving this some thought haven't you?" He asked.

"I've been thinking about a lot of things." She replied, holding his gaze. "Jarik...Jorj...us."

"Ahuh. And what conclusions did you come to?" He queried.

"No conclusions. Just a lot of random thoughts. Like Jaina with her money worries and Jacen with his love life. Jorj and how far he's come as well as how far he's still got to go." She reached out to rest her hand over Han's wrist. "And us. We're neither of us getting any younger Han. I worry how Jorj will react when one of us..."

"He has a strong, loving family to help him through whatever life throws at him." Han assured her, covering her hand with his own.

He wasn't surprised, these were the same thoughts that crept into Han's own mind when Leia had told him she was pregnant. They were also the same thoughts that had found a warm nesting place after Jorj's birth, when they were told of the difficulties the boy's oxygen starvation could cause.

"And then there's Jarik." Leia sighed.

"Then there's Jarik." Han echoed.

"You know, I kind of miss the days when it was just the Empire we had to worry about!" She said.

"And Bounty Hunters. Pirates. Renegades. Mon Mothma." He concluded with a smirk.

Leia's soft smile lit her face.

"I feel so much better equipped to fight those things than any of the one's we've faced since." She commented sadly. "Father raised me to lead, not to integrate into family life."

"You've done pretty good." He smiled and grazed her cheek with the backs of his fingers. "Of course, _I_ helped a lot!"

"Han." Leia turned sombre. "About Jarik."

Their doorchime, inevitably, interrupted them.

"He's early. Must be eager to get his cash and move on." Han growled.

"Han..." Leia tried to stop him.

"It's okay." Han rose, bent and kissed her forehead. "I got this covered."

Leia watched Han creak his way to the door, input the appropriate codes and greet his cousin into their home.

Thracken Sal-Solo gave Leia the kind of look that made her want to scrub her flesh with a bleaching agent.

"I see you have your bodyguard this time cousin." Thracken noted. "I hope she's dipped her fingers deep into her royal pockets."

"Don't make yourself comfortable Thracken, you won't be staying." Han said.

"You got my money?" Thracken asked bluntly.

"Thing is, there _is_ no money and there's not going to be." Han hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pants.

Thracken barked a laugh and imitated shaking water from his ear.

"I think I must have misheard." Thracken's smile was malevolent.

"You heard right enough. There's no money and there's not going to be any." Han repeated. "What there is, is this."

Han pulled the disc from his pocket and held it out to Thracken.

"Codes to your safety deposit boxes?" Thracken asked hopefully, taking the disc.

"A recording of you offering to sell me your child. That's a copy, the original is with a legal representative. Oh, and there are one or two others scattered around so don't worry about keeping that in a safe place." Han explained.

"Is this supposed to impress me? It alters nothing between us. You pay up, or I leave with the boy." Thracken tossed the disc aside.

"Yeah. You see, the thing is, we got a real problem getting that kind of money together." Han said, scratching his head. "In fact, we got a real problem getting _any_ kind of money together."

"Don't hustle me I'm not in the mood." Thracken growled, his voice uncannily similar to Han's.

"It's not a hustle." Han denied. "It's a statement of fact."

"Well." Thracken said, his eyes dropping to his feet before he started to pace the room. "I gotta say, I'm disappointed. I thought you were a man of your word Solo. A man of honour. Turns out you're just as shabby now as you always were."

"Sticks and stones Thracken." Han muttered.

"And you'd know all about sticks and stones wouldn't you Solo. They used to be your only weapons." Thracken sneered.

Han could feel his temper rising.

"I'll tell you what I'm going to do." Thracken concluded. "I'm going to give you another standard twenty-four hours to come up with the goods. But then, I'm out of here and what happens to that little parasite will be up to the courts to decide."

"No." Han stated. "What you're going to do is this. You're going to go to your legal and tell her you've given your situation a great deal of consideration and, after a period of careful reflection, you've come to realise that you are not in a position at present to take on the full mantel of responsibility that fatherhood brings."

"I am?" Thracken questioned.

"You are." Han confirmed. "And furthermore, you're gonna tell her your recommendations."

"And what might they be?" Thracken asked.

"You're going to suggest that Jarik remain within the foster circuit and that he could do a whole lot worse than find himself in the care of Winter and Tycho Celchu. They're residents of Galactic City, have a history of very successful foster care services, plus _I_ would consider it a personal favour." Han's grin was at it's most lopsided.

"I'm struggling to see the profit in if for me." Thracken quietly fumed.

"Let's just say, you get to go to bed feeling all warm and fuzzy inside." Han's grin widened. "As opposed to going to bed inside with cell mates called 'warm' and 'fuzzy'."

"I've done nothing illegal." Thracken glowered.

"Oh honey?" Han called over to Leia. "Didn't you sit on the Child Exploitation Committee when you were Chief of State?"

"No." Leia answered honestly. "That was when I was Minister of State."

Han snapped his fingers in recognition. "That's right. Sorry, got my positions of power muddled. So when you _were_ on the Child Exploitation Committee what would the position be, say, if I offered to sell Jorj for...oh, I dunno...let's say forty thousand credits?"

"You'd be convicted of child trafficking and face the rest of your miserable days incarcerated. Very probably with 'warm' and 'fuzzy'." She replied, her confidence growing.

"You'd be implicating yourself!" Thracken reasoned.

"I've spent half my life with my back to the wall, I think I'm up to the challenge. All you've ever done is a handful of stints for petty crimes not worth changing the cell bedding for." Han snarled.

"So I walk away empty handed?" Thracken asked.

"And with that warm, fuzzy feeling I was telling you about." Han concluded with a wink.

Thracken Sal-Solo looked from Han to Leia and back again, shaking his head.

"You know Solo, you can roll poodoo in gold dust but it's still poodoo on the inside." Thracken retreated toward the apartment's door. "I do this, we're quits. You understand? No coming back in a year, changing your mind again and wanting the kid signed over to you. And you still pay all the legal and medical bills. Deal?"

"Deal." Han agreed and spat on the palm of the hand he then extended for Thracken to shake. Sal-Solo studied the hand, his nose wrinkling. "Gentleman's shake." Han told him.

Thracken gave Han a look, then shook the hand once, quickly and exited.

It took Han a full five standard minutes before he felt he could release the breath he had been holding.

"I need to sit down!" Han said and held out his arm for Leia's assistance.

She quickly crossed the room and helped Han into a self conforming chair then sank to her knees, her eyes studying Han's face.

"When did you come up with the idea to propose Winter and Tycho?" She asked, breathlessly.

He smiled his quirky smile. "Just now. You're right, we have too much to deal with right now to take on Jarik as well. But, you're also right about him being a good kid who needs a good home. And I can't think of any better candidates than Winter and Tycho."

"You trust Thracken to keep his word?" Leia asked.

"Ordinarily no. But that little seed we planted about life inside should be enough to ensure his obedience. You, by the way..." He wiggled the tip of her nose with his index finger. "Were magnificent."

"Glad I could help." She smiled.

"Wouldn't hurt, though, for you to maybe drop by Junia's office and see what you can find out." He suggested.

Leia cleared the breakfast things, administered Han's anti-inflammatory cream, changed and followed Han's suggestion to call into the offices of legal representative Junia Karoesh.

While she was gone, Han took the opportunity to place a personal call to his occasional friend, Lando Calrissian who, after what felt like a millennium, finally took Han's call.

"Han old buddy!" Lando exclaimed. "How ya doin' you old pirate?"

"Can't complain." Han replied with a grin. "Well, I could, but nobody'd listen."

"I hear ya pal!" Lando answered. "So, what can I do for you?"

"Lando, I need a favour. A game, a real good one." Han said.


End file.
